EXPOSITIONS 



THE CREED, THE LORB'S PRAYER, 

AND 

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 



BY 

ROBERT LEIGHTOK D. D., 

AECHBISnOP OF GLASGOW. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTORT ESSAY, 

BY JOHN i»YE SMITH D. D. , 



I^EY/ YORK: 
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 

No. 53 BE O AD WAY. 

1858. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



Inquiry into the early history of nations brings 
abundant proof that the primitive state of man was 
not one of savage and half-brutal existence, but 
was a condition lying in the medium between un- 
cultivated nature and high refinement. The sa- 
vage state is first presented to us in history, by the 
discoveries of navigators within the last three hun- 
dred and fifty years : and there are good reasons 
for regarding it as a condition of degeneracy, pro- 
duced by moral depravity operating through a 
course of ages in degrading the personal and social 
condition of human beings. The first human pair 
must have been created in the perfection of their 
corporal and mental faculties, and endowed by 
their beneficent Creator with so much of know- 
ledge and habit, in reference to their natural ne- 
cessities and their moral duty, as was requisite for 
safety, for pure enjoyment, and for revering and 
loving, worshipping and honouring Him who had 

b 



X 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



made them in his own image. The fall could not 
extirpate knowledge from the minds of our first 
parents ; any more than it could blot out the re- 
cords of their memory, which inust have been, in a 
high degree, both painful and pleasing. It is im- 
possible to imagine that they would not, with all 
the emphasis produced by penitential sorrow, de- 
scribe to their children the blessings of their former 
state, and inculcate the just and reasonable law 
under whose obligations, though violated, rational 
creatures hold their being by the very necessity of 
their moral existence. But that law was not writ- 
ten. It so commended itself to the judgment of 
man and to his moral feelings, it flowed so obvi- 
ously from the undeniable facts of God's universal 
government, it was so united with the tenderest 
impressions of parental warning, that it could ne- 
ver be forgotten. Depravity, however awfully 
deep, could not obliterate it. It had not pleased 
infinite Wisdom that it should be written. By the 
wisely ordained longevity of the antediluvians, one 
intermediate life brought the knowledge of Adam 
into the possession of Noah. The increased and 
obstinate wickedness of the bulk of mankind in 
that primeval period, could not destroy the know- 
ledge of the moral law. The nearness and bright- 
ness of that knowledge must have added a tre- 
mendous aggravation to the guilt of those who 
trampled upon it. The righteous men in successive 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



generations who, by their duteous and fiducial beha- 
viour, showed their title to the honour of being call- 
ed ' sons of God,' had that law written upon their 
hearts : but it w^as not yet, nor for many ages af- 
ter, engraven on tablets of stone, or recorded in 
any way by the pictorial or alphabetical art of 
man. Yet it was sufficiently, in a virtual manner, 
promulgated to all families and nations; and it ^ 
was so transmitted from one generation to another 
as to become the common laiv of human nature. 

Yet this did not render superfluous the formal 
writing and express proclamation of the Moral 
Law, when the time and the circumstances were 
come which divine Wisdom judged meet for such 
a positive notification. Necessary, indeed, we can- 
not hold such an interference to have been, either 
for the vindication of God's righteous government, 
or for demonstrating the criminality and inex- 
cusableness of man's rebellion. But its advantage 
was unspeakably great and valuable, in setting up 
a mound against the corruptions of tradition, which 
early took place and fearfully multiplied ; and in 
providing a literal form of secure and unalterable 
expression, w^hich should be a bar against innova- 
tions, extenuations, or expedients of any kind by 
which the conscience of man might be lulled into 
the slumber of security. 

Thus the traditionary law and the written law 
were not rivals ; nor did either supersede the other. 

b 2 



xii 



INTUODUCTORY ESSAY. 



The former remained and still remains, a lesson to 
those nations of mankind which have had only the 
light of nature to walk by, and to those individual 
persons in heaven-enlightened countries, whether 
ancient or modern, to whom * the light hath shone 
in darkness/ though they have not comprehended 
it because Hhey loved darkness rather than light, 
for their deeds were evil/ The latter, taken in its 
strict letter, was the constitution, great charter, 
amd fundamental law of the Israelitish nation ; 
Jehovah in it declaring himself to be the God, in 
an extraordinary sense, of the emancipated nation ; 
and that he took them to be a peculiar people unto 
himself. This covenant of national peculiarity, 
requiring merely outward and temporal obedience, 
enforced by sanctions of earthly prosperity and ad- 
versity, and administered by a civil magistracy in 
union with a theocratic priesthood, answered many 
important purposes during its fated period. It was 
a protest against idolatry, a standing miracle to 
demonstrate that the God of Israel was the Only 
Living and True God, a reproof to the wicked, ' a 
figure for the time then present,' an instruction 
and anticipation of better times to the pious, and ' a 
shadow of good things to come,' when the Mosaic 
dispensation should ' decay, wax old, and vanish 
away.^ But the Law of Ten Commandments had 
a higher character than to be the basis of the tem- 
poral and temporary dispensation of Moses, * the 



IN IRODUCTURY LSSAY. 



xiii 



glory of which was to be done away.' It is true, 
indeed, that ' there taketh place [first] a disan- 
nulling of the commandment going' before, because 
of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof, (for 
the law made nothing perfect ;) and [then] the 
bringing in of a better hope, by which we draw 
nigh unto God.'^ But, in this change of dispensa- 
tion, that which was abrogated was useful only in 
a subordinate and relative way ; that which re- 
maineth is of a solid and unalterable nature. Our 
Blessed Saviour * came^ not to destroy the law, but 
to fulfil it.' He showed us how to understand the 
Law which ' God spake' to the children of Israel, 
as expressing, by the induction of particular cases, 
great general principles; so that the two tablets of 
the Law, thus construed comprehensively and with 
regard to their spirit, comprise every duty of piety, 
virtue^ and morality, and forbid allsin^ of v/hatever 
kind, in any form, and to every degree. Our Lord 
also showed, in a manner which, had it been found 
in the dialogues of Plato or the disquisitions of 
Cicero, would have been lauded by men of the 
world, as the noblest specimen of philosophical 
synthesis, that the principle of all the command- 
ments is one, — love ; that a difference only in the 
objective relation presents the distinct claims of God 
and of the dependent rational universe ; and that. 



1 2 Cor, iii. 7. Heb. vii. 18, 19. 



Xiv INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

upon the two primary commandments thus result- 
ing, ^ depend all the law/ every part of divine pre- 
scription, upon whatever subject of moral action, 
and in whatever way made known, ' and the pro- 
phets.* 

The Mosaic Law, taken in all its comprehension, 
national and ecclesiastical, typical and moral, ' was 
our schoolmaster, to bring" us unto Christ, that we 
might be justified by faith.' But the Moral Law 
can sustain no abolition, or diminution of its bind- 
ing authority; because it is the necessary result of 
the necessary relations of rational creatures to God 
and to each other. It is no other than the Law of 
Nature, coeval with the existence of man, possessed 
of full force before the covenant of peculiarity 
was given to the Hebrew nation, and remaining in 
equal force after that covenant was abolished. 
The grace of the gospel, the pardon of sin, the 
being justified by faith, and the sanctifying virtue 
of the Holy Spirit, — so far from forming any ex- 
emption from the obligations of the moral law, 
are really additions to the pre-existing obligations, 
recognizing and confirming them, and adding to 
them that obligation of unspeakable weight and 
tenderness which arises from ' the love of God m 
Christ Jesus our Lord.' The true Christian, as 
the apostle beautifully expresses it, is ^ not without 
law to God, but under the law to Christ.' He 
^delights in the law of God.' The observance of it^ 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



XV 



not from mercenary expectations or servile terrors, 
but from the g:enerous principle of love, is the ele- 
ment of his best pleasure, identical with his con- 
formity to the likeness of his Redeemer, and indeed 
an essential part of that redemption vvhich brings 
the Christian 'to serve God without fear, in holi- 
ness and righteousness before him, all the days of 
his life' on earth, and to the never-dying period of 
liis life in heaven. 

It cannot, then, but be of the first importance to 
the Christian, to be well instructed in the nature, 
motives, extent, and blessedness of obedience to 
the law of God ; and in the true understanding 
and application of the divine summary of duty,-^ 
the Ten Commandments. From the want of such 
instruction many persons have fallen, and do still 
fall, into pernicious errors. Some regard the Deca- 
logue as possessing no essential distinction from 
any other part of the institutions established by 
Moses, under the inspiration and at the command of 
God ; and as having consequently been superseded 
by the Christian religion, equally with the politi- 
cal and ceremonial parts of the Sinaitic covenant. 
Not every one who has imbibed this opinion, pos- 
sesses comprehension of knowledge and strength of 
mind, sufficient to separate the element of moral 
principle from all the extraneous and temporary 
materials with whicb it has been mixed, and to re- 
ceive that pure element as being necessarily and 



xvi 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



always of indispensable obligation. Hence, for 
instance, the cessation of the ceremonial part of 
the Fourth Commandment, that specification of a 
day which derived its immediate interest from the 
national history of the Israelites, has been regarded 
as implying an abandonment of the sacredness of 
one day in seven, to be the time for the noblest 
employments to which men on earth can attach 
themselves. He who has dismissed from his pro- 
fession of faith a sense of the imperative obligation 
of keeping holy to God and to his own eternal in- 
terests, the Christian Sabbath, the Lord's day, has 
broken down the hedge ; and he may well look for 
the invasion and full occupancy of the whole do- 
main by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, 
and the pride of life. The history and present 
state of those Christian communities which have 
received the infection of this principle, have 
soon come to prove its demoralizing effect ; and 
the Sunday-manners of their respective nations 
are a distressing exhibition of religion prostrate 
and infidelity rampant. 

In the opposite extreme, error equally pernicious 
has arisen. The moral law has been alleged to 
have been lowered and mitigated by its Author, in 
merciful adaptation to the fallen condition of man- 
kind ; and that, in this reduced state, requiring no 
longer an absolutely perfect obedience, but only 
that which is sincere though stained with the 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xvil 



moral weaknesses of frail humanity, it is the reason 
of right in the moral government of heaven, or the 
meritorious grounch of becoming rigliteous in the 
sight of God; in other words, of being justified, 
that is, obtaining the forgiveness of sins, the ap- 
probation and favour of the Supreme Judge, and 
the rewards of the eternal state. This is a very 
complex error : it includes many others, and those 
of great extent and dangerous effect. Among them 
must be reckoned the implication, which lies at the 
ground of the whole, that it would be unkind, un- 
lovely, and (to speak plainly) unjust,in the Almighty 
Ruler, to require a pure and perfect obedience 
from a depraved creature; and this also rests upon 
another assumption, that the nature of fallen man's 
inability to comply with the original law% is a want 
of the proper capacity or power in the mental 
faculties. Were that the case, the God of justice 
w^ould never have demanded such a compliance. 
To require what is above the natural powers of 
the being Avho is called upon for the perform- 
ance, is evidently mcongruous with wisdom and in- 
consistent with equity. But far, infinitely far, 
is such injustice from the Divine Majesty! — 
And what is it that God requires, or ever did 
rec|uire ? What is the sum of the whole law, 
in its original and perfect form ? It is to love God, 
and to love each other. But in what degree ? 
According to what directive principle ? It is to 



XV 111 



IWTROOUCTORY ESSAY. 



love God, in the degree and according to the mea- 
sure of his desert ; and to love our neighbour, our 
fellow participant in the feelings and rights of hu- 
manit}^, v/ith that honest and equitable love which 
we could reasonably desire and justly expect him, 
in similar circumstances, to exercise tov/ards us. 
Is this unreasonable, or severe, or impracticable ? 
Could any less amount have been specified ? Could 
a lower requirement have been made by a wise 
and good Legislator ? Shall the Infinitely Glori- 
ous and Lovely Being, our Creator and Proprietor, 
our Sustainer and Benefactor, be reduced to say, 

I ask to be respected and honoured, not accord- 
ing to what I merit and what is therefore reason- 
able in itself, but only so far as you may feel dis- 
posed to love me and obey me : and, as to your 
neighbour, 1 enjcin merely those feelings and 
doings which will wear a smooth aspect, and, 
under the names of benevolence and honesty^ will 
bring the most revenue of admiration or pleasure or 
other recompense to yourselves ?" Would this be 
a proper settlement of things ? Can v>e conceive 
such an arrangement admissible, under the govern- 
ment of a Being perfectly good, just, and wise ? 

But it cannot be necessary to press this plain 
argument. To the reflecting and upright mind, it 
is scarcely less than self-evident tiiat the moral 
law is too good to admit of reduction, and tho.t its 
obligation must for ever remain upon all intelligent 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xix 



creatures : it is inviolable, because it is ^ holy and 
just and good/ 

If this be admitted, it follows irresistibly that the 
law cannot be the ground on which a sinner can take 
his stand in the presence of his Judge. Was it ever 
heard of, in any human judicature, that a criminal, 
undeniably such, and pronounced guilty by the lavY, 
appealed to that same law, and pleaded his obedi- 
ence to it as the ground of acquittal, or of pardon ? 
Such perversion of reason could not show its face 
among v/eak and erring men : yet it is fondly en- 
tertained by multitudes in relation to that justice 
which shall 'judge the world T O, it is distressing 
and humiliating to reflect, that men wise and pru- 
dent, sharp to discern and rigorous to enforce the 
demands of law and equity towards each other, 
^ are thus ready to overlook those principles where 
they are themselves the defendants; and not to 
overlook them only, but on the lamentable error to 
build the fondest hopes, and to put in a claim for 
reward where they have incurred the most aw^ful 
condemnation ! Deeply should we pity the man 
who so acted in a v/orldly litigation, and who so 
recklessly threw av/ay his property or his free- 
dom, the support of his family or the possession o^ 
his life itself: but such folly would be wisdom, 
placed beside the case before us. The Scriptures 
of inspiration have declared, and man^s own rea- 
son echoes back the truth, that ' the law wwketh 



XX 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



wrath, — by the law is the knowledge of sin, — by 
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in 
the sight of God yet, even under the broad light 
of Christianity, and often in near association with 
heart-rending confessions of sin and supplications 
for pardoning mercy, we, alas ! we ourselves are 
presumptuously clinging to the law which we have 
violated, and by our own wretched semblances of 
obedience to it, are looking for a righteousness in 
which to be justified before God ! This has been, 
at least, the case with the writer and the readers of 
these words ; it is too probably the state at this mo- 
ment of many: — how should it awaken our jealousy 
of self- flattery, our dread of self-deception, our earn- 
est supplication to the Almighty Spirit, that he may 
^lead us in his truth and teach us, — that we may 
know the truth, and the truth may make us free!' 

Thus earnestly seeking to escape these opposite 
dangers, we find set before us, in the New Testa- 
ment, the great and divinely beneficial uses of the 
law. It convinces us of our transgressions, in the 
heart and germinating tendency, as well as in out- 
ward practice; it plants in the deliberate judg- 
ment and the awakened conscience a conviction 
not to be refuted, of the inexcusableness of sin and 
the justice of God s condemnatory sentence ; it de- 
monstrates the impossibility of our becoming our 
own saviours ; and it is the invaluable discipline 
which prepares our reluctant minds and leads 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xxi 



them, in deep penitence and humble faith, to ' the 
Lamb of God, who taketb away tbe sin of the 
world.' Then can we, with a lowly and contrite 
yet peaceful spirit, appropriate the declaration of 
St. Paul; ^Knowing thaf a man is not justified by 
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus 
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that 
we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and 
not by the works of the law ; for by the works of 
the law shall no flesh be justified.'^ 

Have we ^received Christ Jesus the Lord,' — as the 
great fulfiller of the design of the law ; — expressly 
called in Scripture 'the end of the law for righteous- 
ness to every one that believeth ?' And is there then 
no further use of that law for us ? Are we henceforth 
to regard it as having to us, as pardoned and justi- 
fied persons, no relation of moment ; proudly cast- 
ing it to the unconverted world, to be the means 
of alarm and conviction to them ? Such a notion 
has been entertained. and widely propagated. But 
most plainly it is inconsistent, and that in a most 
awful degree, v/ith a right state of heart towards 
God: for he that dislikes the law, cannot be well 
affected to the Lawgiver; he that does not cordi- 
ally approve the moral rule under which God has 
laid his rational creatures, cannot be reconciled to 
God ; he retains still within him the principle of 



1 Gal. ii. 16. 



xxii 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



enmity and disloyalty, though it may have put on 
a' softer form. Yet, be its form and visage what it 
may, it is still ' the carnal mind, Vv hich is enmity 
against God ; it is not subject to the law of God, 
neither indeed can be.' ^ But it is among the most 
essential characters of tlie true Christian, that he is 
^ under the law to Christ,' and that he ^delights in 
the law of God after the inward man.'^ In the 
moral law, correctly and comprehensively under- 
stood, he sees a mirror of the divine perfections, 
the blessed union of the infinitely venerable and 
the infinitely lovely, the standard of his obligations, 
the welcome rule of his life, and that unalterable 
principle of goodness, a perfect conformity to which 
will be the chief element of his happiness in 
heaven. 

A Commentary on the Ten Commandments, from 
a mind learned in the Scriptures, judicious and 
free from enthusiasm, and imbued with the spirit 
of genuine Christianity, is, on every account, a 
most desirable possession ; whether we regard the 
information of the judgment, or the direction of 
thejieart. Such a mind was that of Archbishop 
Leighton. He was an elegant scholar, extensively 
read in the Christian Fathers and the scholastic phi- 
losophy, not a stranger to the world, for he had seen 
much of it from its lower to its most exalted cir- 

* Eom. viii. 2. ^ ^ Qq^^ ix. 21 ; Rom. vii. 22. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xxiii 



cles, and deeply acquainted with human nature: 
and he was a constant and most reverential student 
of the divine oracles, a Christian of primitive sim- 
plicity and of the tenderest piety, severe to himself, 
but towards others always candid and even lenient, 
so far as truth and integrity permitted. Some- 
times, indeed, in this latter respect, his candour 
and generosity carried him too far. Such a man 
was w^ell adapted to recommend the duties and to 
display the felicities of religion. His sentiments 
breathe a heavenly animation; and his manner of 
conveying them possesses simplicity and originality, 
sweetness and power. The larger part of his works 
came to the world under the disadvantage of pos- 
thumous publication, and with a m.ore than ordi- 
nary incompetency or carelessness of editorship ; 
but, on this very account, w^e see in them the more 
completely the unconstrained utterance of the 
heart. 

Prefixed to this work on the Commandments is 
a short Exposition of that ancient summary of our 
faith, generally called the Apostles' Creed. 

The history of that venerable document is 
attended with some obscurity. In the declin- 
ing age of ancient literature, it was represented 
as having been actually produced by joint con- 
tributions from the. apostles of our Lord, wath 
the exception of St. Paul and this assertion 



xxiv 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



has been accepted as certainly true by several 
eminent writers in the Romish communion. But, 
had this been the case, it would have been among 
the earliest in time and the most authentic in cha- 
racter, of all the apostolic witings. The martyrdom 
of .lames the brother of John is related in the 
twelfth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles ; but, 
upon the supposition referred to, and according to 
a very ancient distribution of the matter of the 
Creed, one portion to each j!^postle, St. James was 
the author of the clause, ' and in Jesus Christ his 
only Son, our Lord.' Neither, on this supposition, 
can we account for the total silence with regard to 
such an event, which we find in Eusebius, who, 
though he lived in the fourth century, is our ear- 
liest Ecclesiastical Historian : and a similar absence 
of recognition or mention is observable in the more 
recent writers of the same class. We may also 
remark, that, had this Creed possessed an origin 
literally Apostolic, we should not have found in the 
writings of the Fathers down to the fifth century, 
such a variety of compositions of this description. 
Those compositions agree in sentiment, so far as 
they respectively go ; but they differ in amplitude 
of phrase. Indeed, the best manner of arriving at 
such satisfaction upon the historical origin of the 
Creed, as is for us attainable, will probably be to 
describe the principal of those previous composi- 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



XXV 



tions, so far as we are acquainted with them, and 
in the order of their appearance according to the 
best attainable evidence. 

It is well known, and the nature of the case re- 
quired it, that, from the first dissemination of 
Christianity, converts to that most holy and only 
true religion, from Judaism or from heathenism, 
made, at their baptism, a solemn profession of their 
faith in Jesus as the Saviour and Lord of mankind, 
and of their submission to him in those capacities. 
The first instance that we have is that of the JEthio- 
pian royal treasurer, baptized by Philip the Evan- 
gelist, as related in the eighth chapter of the Acts. 
It must be conceded that the thirty-seventh verse 
is proved, by sufficient critical evidence, to be an 
insertion made at a subsequent time, by some one 
perhaps who thought that there v/as here a chasm 
in the narrative which needed to be supplied, and 
which therefore he did supply from tradition and 
general usage. Yet there is good reason to regard 
it as truly representing the very early mode of con- 
fession in the primitive church ; ' I believe that 
Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah.' The dif- 
ferent circumstances of previous instruction, and 
the varying degrees of attainment in Christian 
knowledge, which distinguished the persons ad- 
mitted to baptism, would of necessity give birth to 
some variation in the form of expression ; but the 
essence of the declaration was one and the same. 



xxvi 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



It is highly probable that to this confession at 
baptism^ given as the reply to a solemn question 
from the minister of Christ, the Apostle Peter 
alludes, when he mentions 'the answer of a good 
conscience towards God/' An exclusive form ot 
words was not prescribed. It was not necessary : it 
would have seemed to interfere with the perfect 
spontaneity of the act; and a sufficient knowledge 
of all that the case required was both taught in the 
preaching of the gospel and the catechetical in- 
struction which preceded admission into the church, 
and was, as with good reason it might be presumed, 
deeply engraven in the knowledge and the feelings 
of the sincere convert. 

The basis of this general consent, without a 
strictly exact form of words, was the great com- 
mand and commission of our Lord, 'Go ye, and 
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into 
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy 
Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatso- 
ever I have commanded you.'^ Thus Irenaeus, in 
Gaul, who died in the first or second year of the third 
century, says that the Christian " holds the rule of 
truth inflexible which he has received by his bap- 
tism."^ Tertullian, in Africa, about twenty years 
later; That baptism is the sealing of our faith.""* 



1 1 Pet. iii. 21. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 

Adv. H^er. lib. 1, cap. i. 
4 De Pcenit, Op. p. 125, ed. Rigaltii. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xxvii 



Athanasius, in the fourth century ; In this, 
[Christ] completing the whole divine doctrine and 
our perfection, by which he has united us to him- 
self and through himself to the Father, he com- 
manded his disciples, ' Go, make disciples of all 
nations, baptizing them into the name of the 
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.' ^ Au- 
gustine, some years later ; Our Creed [Symboluin'] 
consists in the words of the gospel. — This Rule of 
Faith our Lord Jesus Christ himself has framed, 
and none but an impious man doubts of its being 
the Rule of the Universal [Catholic] Faith, dic- 
tated by Him to whom our confidence [or, faith] 

is due ; he left these sacred pledges [sacra- 

menta] of the faith to his disciples, that is, the 
apostles; for he said. Go ye, and baptize all na- 
tions,"^ &c. 

But there were false teachers, who unawares and 
privily insinuated themselves into the apostolic and 
the immediately succeeding churches, ' teaching 
things that they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake, — 
beguiling unstable souls, — with enticing words, — 
through philosophy — and oppositions of science 
falsely so called, — and vain deceit, after the tradi- 
tion of men, after the rudiments of the world, and 
not after Christ, — who privily brought in damna- 
ble heresies, even denying the Lord that bought 

^ Epist. i. ad Serap. Op. torn. i. p. 653, ed. Benedict. 
Serm. in Symb. 

c 2 



xxviii 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



them, and' — who thus ^brought upon themselves 
swift destruction ; — and many followed their perni- 
cious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth 
was evil spoken of/* 

The success of those corrupters of the apostolic 
doctrine was awfully great, in drawing away disci- 
ples after them, deceiving and being deceived. It 
became therefore a measure of propriety, not to 
say of necessity, to add words and clauses to the 
confession, from time ^to time ; as conservative of 
principal truths, defensive against principal errors, 
and precautionary against the ^ sleight of men and 
cunning craftiness, whereby they lay in wait to de- 
ceive/^ 

Thus also reasons were created and motives 
strengthened for putting the general confession of 
Christians into writing ; at the same time clothing 
it in an extremely plain and simple form of w^ords. 

Many of the treasures of Christian antiquity are 
lost: but among those which time has spared we 
are favoured by the goodness of providence to find 
several of the forms which were assumed by the 
common Confession, Declaration of Belief ( which is 
signified by the word Creed,) or, using another 
term to designate it as the sign, pledge, and bond 
of union, the Symholum, of Christians. It will be 



1 Gal. ii. 4 ; Tit 1. 11 ; Col. ii. 4, 8 , 1 Tim vi. 20 ; 2 Pet. 
ii. 1, 2, 14. 

2 Eph. iv. 14. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xxix 



interesting and instructive to give the earliest of 
those forms that are extant, and especially as they 
were the most influential in their results. 

Vigilius of Tapsum, who lived in the fifth cen- 
tury, cites a form of the Confession used at Baptism, 
the simplicity and brevity of which indicate the 
characters of a very early age of Christianity : I 
believe in God the Father Almighty ; and in Jesus 
Christ, his Only Begotten Son ; and in the Holy 
Spirit."' 

Facundus of Hermiane, also an African Bishop 
in the succeeding century, (memorable for the noble 
stand which he made against the attempt of the 
Emperor Justinian, supported by the weak and 
vacillating Bishop of Rome, Vigilius, to dictate 
to men's consciences, and to settle matters of faith 
by an imperial edict,) has given us the following : 
" We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, 
and in one Lord Jesus Christ his Son, born of the 
Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary ; who under 
Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried ; on the 
third day he rose from the dead, ascended into 
heaven, sitteth at the right hand of the Father, 
whence he will come to judge the living and the 
dead."^ 

This differs but little from a statement of the 

1 De Trill, lib. xii. cit. ap. Walchii Biblioth. Symbol. P. I. 
cap. i. et Munteri Primord. Eccl. Afric. p. 93. 

Epist. de Fid Cath. ap. Opera, Sirmond. 11. 846, ei 
Miint. ib. 



XXX 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



Creed which we have in Tertullian, in the indirect 
form : There is absolutely but one Rule of Faith, 
sole, fixed, and unalterable ; that of believing in 
the only God, Almighty, the Creator of the world ; 
and his Son Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin 
Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, on the third 
day raised from the dead, received into heaven, now 
sitting at the right hand of the Father, and who 
will come to judge the living and the dead by a 
real resurrection of the flesh." ^ 

Comparing various testimonies of Epiphanius, 
Jerome, Augustine, Ruiinus, and Venantius Fortu- 
natus, all of whom lived in the fourth or fifth cen- 
tury, we find the Creed gradually approaching to 
the completeness in which we possess it, and for 
which it appears that we are indebted to the care 
of different persons of eminence in Italy, Gaul, 
and perhaps other countries comprised within the 
circle of influence filled by the Latin or western 
Church. Undoubtedly, errors and corruptions were 
at that time making lamentable inroads into the 
purity of both that and the eastern body of Chris- 
tians; but, by God's almighty and merciful provi- 
dence, they were not permitted to be intruded into 
the Creed. It is particularly worthy of our obser- 

' De Virg. Veland. Op. p. 172, ed. Eigalt. W64. Other 
Symbolical fragments have been collected by the mdefatigable 
Mr. Bingham, in his Antiquities of the Christian Church, Book 
iv. ch. iv. 



rNTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xxxi 



vation and gratitude, that, from the fifth to the 
fifteenth century, while the Greek Church was mi- 
serably falling', thousands of its unhappy adherents 
apostatizing', and its internal state torn with meta- 
physical littlenesses, and wordy controversies, 
which were carried on with a turbulence and a 
ferocity almost incredible, and in the originating 
and the conduct of which we can ascribe but a 
very small share to piety, — in the Latin Cljurch 
there was always a devout and practical character. 
Men were never wanting, who thougli cloistered in 
the bosom of the papal hierarchy, and even filling 
some of its dignities, yet proved themselves to be 
not of the world, maintained the life and vigour of 
personal religion, and kept the holy fire burning 
till the glorious Reformation blew away the ashes 
which obscured it, and stirred it up to a new and 
more powerful flame. To tamper Vvith the Creed 
was not permitted. It was felt to be, as Jerome 
says, '^ihe symboliim our faith and hope, deli- 
vered down to us from the Apostles, and written, not 
with paper and ink, but on the fleshly tablets of our 
hearts."^ And though some important doctrines 
of Christianity are in this brief declaration implied 
rather than asserted, it was thought better to leave 
them in that primitive simplicity of phrase, than 
even to consult a more ample edification by expli- 



1 Epist. Gl. 



xxxu 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 



catory enlargements of which it would have been 
difficult to determine the just limit : especially as 
the very character of the Creed was to be a simple 
enumeration of the facts upon which Christianity 
rests, father than an application of those facts to 
the doctrines of v/bich they are, as it were, the in- 
dices. 

The right use of this circumstance was to direct 
Christians to the pure fountain and the perfect 
testimonies of the Gospel, as laid clown in the 
Scriptures and preeminently the New Testament, 
which alone possessed canonical authenticity and 
divine authority. Ilence, it has been the pious 
care and labour of many excellent men, from 
Augustine and Rufinus to the times of Protestant- 
ism, to compose Expositions of the Creed, which 
should draw out the full and plain declarations of 
eternal truth upon those points of Christian doc- 
trine, infinitely important to be known and be- 
lieved, which the Creed comprised under ordy 
brief and general implications. These were the 
guilt and misery of mankind as inexcusable sinners 
against the holy and inviolable law, the infinite 
grace and love of God in redemption, the merit 
and efficacy of our Redeemer's life and death, jus- 
tification by faith in him as the only and all-suf- 
ficient Saviour, the sanctifying, consolatory, and 
strengthening inlluences of the Holy Spirit, and 
the indispensable obligations of holy obedience, 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xxxiii 



If the concise articles of the Creed were to be in- 
terpreted upon a confined principle, excluding the 
developements of scriptural authority, the most 
pernicious consequences would ensue : and a com- 
position which, however venerable and impressive, 
is yet only human, anonymous, and uncanonical, 
would be elevated above the ' IJoIy Scriptures, 
which are able to make us wise unto salvation, 
through faith which is in Christ Jesus and 
which so plainly teach us that 'a man is not justi- 
fied by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus 
Christ,^ that 'by grace we are saved through 
faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of 
God, not of works, lest any man should boast,' that 
' faith without works is dead/ and that 'the grace 
of God which bringeth salvation teachelh us that, 
denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts, we 
should live righteously, soberly, and godly in this 
present world, looking for that blessed hope and 
the glorious appearing of the great God and our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, to 
redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto 
himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.'^ 
By reviewing this state of things in the primitive 
Churches, we are led to the application of that 
principle of human nature and fact in human his- 

' 2 Tim. iii. 15. 

2 2 Tim. iii. 20 ; Gal. ii. 16 ; Eph. ii. 8. 9; Ja. ii. 20 ; Tit. 
ii. 11—14. 



XXXIV 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



tory, which was noticed in the beg^innino^ of this 
Essay. As there was a proinulg-ation of the Moral 
Law unwritten, yet not the less authentic and im- 
perative, in its manifestation to the earliest gene- 
rations of mankind ; so there was an unwritten 
communication a personal and successive tradition, 
a Common Law of Christianity. 

According- to the most probable estimate of the 
indications of time, no part of the New Testament 
was written till ten years (many able investigators 
would say eighteen) had elapsed from the commence- 
ment of the spread of the Gospel among the Jews, not 
only in Palestine but in their wide dispersion through 
the Roman empire. During this period at least, the 
communication of the Christian doctrine, precepts, 
and promises, was chiefly made by the living voice 
to the attentive ear. ' Faith came by hearing,' in ex- 
pounding the acknowledged ^ word of God' as con- 
tained in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, 
To these the Apostles always appealed, when, in 
the synagogues of the Jews, wherever they could 
gain access, they preached that Jesus was the 
Christ. But the knowledge of the facts concerning 
Jesus, the narrative of his life and doctrine, his pre- 
cepts and promises, his example, death, and resur- 
rection, a body of knowledge absolutely necessary 
to enable a sincere Jewish inquirer to form his 
judgment on solid grounds, whether the prophet of 
Nazareth, who had suffered death at Jerusalem, 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



XXXV 



was the Christ or not ; — tins most important body 
of information was communicated in the first 
instance, by oral instruction ; and was again deli- 
vered from one person to another, and often to 
multitudes of men, solely in this way. 

When the Gospel was, by the g-racious command 
of Christ and under the guidance of his Holy 
Spirit, liberally extended to the gentiles, the value i 
of this mode of apostolic tradition was put in a 
stronger light. Of the earliest converts from hea- 
thenism, many indeed had been before proselyted 
to the knowledge and worship of Jehovah the 
Only God, with the acknowledgment of his 
having revealed himself to the ancestors of the 
Israelitish nation. To such persons, the appeal 
to the histories and the prophecies of the Hebrew 
sacred books would be appropriate and effective, 
equally as to those who were Jews by descent; 
and often, on account of a less power of prejudice, 
even more so. But, as the labours of those faithful 
servants of God and benefactors of mankind went 
on, ever increasing and extensively producing the 
most happy effects, it is evident that a knowledge 
of the preceding revelations and the admission of 
them as a source of unquestionable truth, would 
not be found in the general mass of men, through- 
out the heathen nations. Yet, in every country, 
to the boundaries generally speaking of the civi- 
lized world, the gospel w^as carried by the apostles 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



and their various coadjutors. ^The word of the 
truth of the Gospel was presented — in all the world, 
and brought forth fruit; — it was preached/ to use 
a popular but just hyperbole, ^to every (human) 
creature under heaven.'* Also in the first as to 
the order of time, of the epistles written by St. 
Paul, he thus declares the happy and memorable 
fact, in relation to one of his numerous fields of 
labour : ' We give thanks to God always for you 
all, — for our gospel came unto you, not in word 
only but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, 
and in much assurance : — from you sounded out 
the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and 
Achaia, but also in every place your faith tov^ard 
God is spread abroad, — and how ye turned to God 
from idols.' ^ But, in what form, and by what ve- 
hicle, did this ' word of the Lord' thus sound out? 
None of the books of the New Testament were at 
that time written, except the Gospel of Matthew, 
in its Aramaic or Syro-Chaldaic edition ; which 
preceded the Greek edition by probably some 
years. But it is scarcely an admissible supposition 
that this first canonical Gospel could have been, at 
the time referred to, known much beyond the boun- 
daries of Judaea. The ' word of the Lord,' the 
* preaching of Christ crucified,' the 'truth which is 
according to godliness,' was thus widely and tri- 

* Col. i. 6. — Tov TrapovTOQ — r. X>— 23. 
2 1 Thess. i. 2, 5, 7, 9, 8. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xxxvii 



umpbantly diffused by oral teaching. This was 
the Apostolic Tradition, the Rule of Faith, 
of vvbicb we read so mucb in tbe extant writings of 
Irenaens, Tertullian, and Origan. Its short expres- 
sion, as we have before shown, lay in the Baptis- 
mal Confession; but of its more ample details we 
have the following account by the faithful confes- 
sor, and probably martyr, Irenseus. After a large 
discussion of the errors and blasphemies of the 
Yalentinians, he proceeds as follows. 

" Hence it is plainly to be ackowledged as a fact 
evident even previous to the direct demonstration 
of it, that the doctrine proclaimed by the church is 
the truth, and that which they [the Yalentinians] 
have invented is a scheme of errors. For the church, 
though scattered through the whole habitable 
world, to the ends of the earth, holds fast the 
FAITH, wdiich it has received from the Apostles 
and their disciples, in One God, the Father Al- 
mighty, who hath made the heaven and the earth 
and the seas, and all things that are therein ; and 
in One Christ, Jesus the Son of God, who came in 
the flesh for our salvation ; and in the Holy Spirit, 
who through the prophets declared the dispensa- 
tions, [the successive revelations in the patriarchal 
and the Mosaic ages,] ' and the comings,' [undoubt- 
edly meaning the incarnation of the Son of God in 
humiliation and suffering, and his future coming 
m divine glory for the universal judgment and eter- 



XXXViii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



nal retributions,] ' and the birth from a virgin, and 
the suffering-, and the resurrection from the dead, 
and the reception in the flesh of the beloved Christ 
Jesus our Lord into the heavens, and his coming* 
from the heavens in the glory of the Father, in 
order to gather together all things to himself as un- 
der one head, and to raise all flesh of all mankind; 
that, unto Christ Jesus, our Lord and God and 
Saviour and King, according to the good pleasure 
of the invisible Father, every knee may bow, of 
beings heavenly and earthly and infernal, and that 
every tongue may confess to him ; and that he may 
exercise righteous judgment upon them all, by 
sending into everlasting fire the spirits of wicked- 
ness, the angels that transgressed and became apos- 
tates, and also, of men, the impious and unrighteous 
and transgressors of the law; but by grace bestow- 
ing life upon the righteous and holy, who have 
kept his commandments and continued in his love 
both those who have been such from their earliest 
years and those who have so become by repentance, 
[i. e. from Judaism, heathenism, or some state of 
backsliding,] ' whom he will endow with immor- 
tality and invest them with eternal glory. 

" This proclamation and this faith, as we before 
said, the church has received, and though scattered 
through the whole world, carefully preserves, as 
inhabiting one house ; and, as having one soul and 
the same heart, with the same feeling believes these 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xxxix 



truths, and with perfect accordance, as having one 
mouth, proclaims, teaches, and delivers them. For, 
though the languages throughout the world are 
unlike, yet the power of this tradition is one and 
the same. Nor has any other faith been received 
or delivered by the churches founded in the re- 
gions of Germany, nor in those of Iberia, nor 
among the Celts, nor those in the diiTerent coun- 
tries of the east, nor in Egypt or Lybia, nor those 
founded in the central regions :' [i. e. Palestine, 
Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece:] 'but as the sun, 
the creature of God, is one and the same through 
the whole world, so the proclamation of the truth 
shines every where, and enlightens all men who 
are willing to come to the acknowledgment of that 
truth. And neither will any one of those who pre- 
side over the churches, though he be very mighty 
in the word, utter any doctrines different from 
these, — for no one is above his Master; ' — nor will 
he that is weak in the word diminish the doctrine 
thus delivered. For, there being one and the same 
faith, he who is able say much about it does not 
enlarge it; nor does he who can say but little 
diminish it." ^ 

Statements to the same purport as this very im- 
portant passage, occur in the writings of Origen, 
and repeatedly in those of Tertullian; fully esta- 

Kefeiring probably to Matt. x. 24. 
Adv. HddT, I. ii. iii. 



xl 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



Wishing that this unwritten record was the general 
Rule of Faith, the Common Law/ as we have ven- 
tured to call it, of Christianity. 

But, when we attentively consider the entire 
case, we perceive that the contents of this unwrit- 
ten record are a statement o{ facts rather than a 
deposition of doctrines; as has been already inti- 
mated. The connexion of those facts with the 
fundamental truths of Christianity was indeed ob- 
vious ; so that from them the reason and conscience 
of man mig-ht have deduced an answer to the all- 
momentous question^ What must I do to be 
saved But the wisdom and goodness of God 
did not leave mankind without the most direct and 
authorized means of correctly understanding and 
safely applying those primary facts of the gospel- 
history, which were recognised in the traditionary 
rule, and condensed into the brief Creed. Long 
before the streams of apostolic tradition could have 
become obscure or doubtful, the inspired writ- 
ings of the New Testament w^ere published, in the 
only way of publication then known and prac- 
tised, that of open mission to the persons immedi- 
ately addressed, or with whom the proximate con- 
nexion lay ; and a direct encouragement of com- 
munication to others, with the permission of tran- 
scribing and other means for general circulation 
Within twelve or fifteen years after the pente- 
costal commencement of propagating the religion 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xli 



of Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew, and the tow 
Epistles to the Thessalonians were written and 
promulgated. The Gospels of Mark and Luke, the 
Book of the Apostolic Acts, and nearly all the 
other Epistles, were published in the space of the 
further period of about twenty years : and the low- 
est date that can be assigned for the latest writing 
of the Apostle John, whether that was the Revela- 
tion, or the Gospel, or one of his Epistles, will not 
bring us further down so much as thirty years. 
Thus the whole New Testament was written and 
widely circulated, in sufficient time to obviate the 
degenerating tendencies of human nature ; and, in 
its connexion with the Old Testament, showing the 
fulfilling of the Law and the Prophets, the docu- 
mentary evidence of religion was completed, the 
product of divine inspiration, the testimony of 
God, the infallible Rule of Faith and Guide of 
Practice ; in order ' that the man of God,' the 
conscientious teacher and pastor, ' might be per- 
fect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work/ 
and that all who could read or hear might be 
* made wise unto salvation, through faith which is 
in Christ Jesus.' ^ 

It is plain therefore that the statements and sen- 
timents which we have advanced concerning the 
ancient Tradition, flowing out of the bosom of the 



^ 2 Tim. iii. 15—17. 



xlii 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



Apostolic Chiirclies, is not a doctrine that makes 
any concession or gives any countenance to the 
Popish notion of tradition. Our doctrine is that 
the apostolic tradition, though of necessity origi- 
nating a few years earlier than the apostolic writ- 
ings, was not an independent nor a superior 
fountain of authority; but was in its highest de- 
gree and best form strictly coordinate with those 
writings, continued to exist in unison with them, 
was always to be interpreted or rather completed 
by them, and ultimately became, as it were, ab- 
sorbed in them. That Rule of Faith which we 
have described is, to us, a matter of history ; great- 
ly indeed confirmatory of our interpretations of 
scripture, but not supplying any thing, of fact, or 
doctrine, or duty, but what is fully declared in the 
sacred writings, the true sayings of God. 

But the Popish doctrine asserts that Unwritten 
Traditions, in an unbroken succession, have come 
down to us as a distinct and independent line of 
authority, referring to both faith and practice, and 
to be received and venerated with pious affection 
and reverence, equal to that which is due to the 
written word of God, dictated by the Holy Spirit.* 
Yet neither the Council of Trent (which was very 
far from being a fair representation of even the Ro- 
man Catholic governments and nations, to say no- 



' Concil. Trident. Decreta ; Sess. IV. Deer. i. Apr. 8, 1546. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xliii 



thing of Christendom at large, and which passed 
that decree in the absence of many of its most 
learned members,) nor any other competent au- 
thority in the Papacy, has told us plainly and de- 
finitely ivhdt those traditions are.' This prudent 
reserve is intended to represent the See of Rome as 
being the central depository of the unwritten tra- 
ditions, so that its occupant, exercising certain 
forms, may at any time authoritatively give them 
forth, or such of them as he thinks fit, to repress 
any opinion or denounce any proceeding which he 
may disapprove: while still the whole contents of 
the casket are withheld from public view% and we 
are only told, by a venerated but inferior authority, 
that " the doctrines and practices of the Church, 
which modern sectaries have protested against, are 
indeed Apostolical Tradition."^ 

On the contrary, we maintain that the original 
and genuine Apostolical Tradition soon became 
embodied in the Apostolic Written Word, wdth 
all its doctrinal elucidations and practical applica- 
tions; and there we find it in perfect complete- 
ness, to our unspeakable joy and blessedness. The 
distinction is well expressed by the learned divine, 
one of the glories of our country, some of whose 
works have been given, and others are intended to 

* Istoria del Concilio Trident, di Pietro Soave Folano, ed. 
1629, p. 1(38. 

^ Bp. Challoner's Grounds of the Old Religion^ p. 68. 



xliv 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



follow, in these Sacred Classics, Bishop Jeremy 
Tayloc The certainty of Tradition which is 
allowed, is but in matters of fact, not in doctrines : 
because the fact may be one, the doctrines many ; 
that soon remembered, these soon forgotten ; that 
perceived by sense, these mistaken and misunder- 
stood. And, though it is very credibly reported 
and easily believed, that Julius Caesar was killed 
in the senate, yet all that he said that day, all the 
unwritten orders he made, and all his orations, will 
not, cannot, so easily be trusted upon oral tradi- 
tion. So that oral tradition is a good ministry of 
conveying a record, but is not the best record : and 
the principal office of oral tradition is done when 
the record is verified by it, when the scripture is 
consigned. And, though still it is useful, yet it is 
not still so necessary. — Oral tradition may be very 
certain, and in some case is the best evidence we 
have in matters of fact, unless where we are taught 
by sense or revelation.^ — This is but in matters of 
fact, not in doctrines and orations, or notions de- 
livered in many words. And, after all this, when 
tradition hath consigned an instrument or record, 
a writing or a book, it may then leave being neces- 
sary.'^ ^ 

If it were necessary, we could adduce many pas- 
sages from the Christian Fathers, and from writers 



* Dissuasive against Popery, Part II. In trod. p. 19. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



in the middle ages, whom every Roman Catholic 
would revere, to establish our position that, in 
theology and religion, the authority of the Scrip- 
tures is unrivalled, supreme, and jyerfect. We will 
introduce only two; the one from our countryman 
Bede, justly designated the Venerable, one of the 
noblest luminaries of a gloomy and adverse time, 
the earlier part of the eighth century ; and the 
other, from the Roman Canon Lav/ itself. 

" When thou seest incompetent men presuming 
to take the seat of authority to teach in the Church, 
and perversely pretending to be faithful ministers, 
but imposing upon their deluded hearers, not the 
commandments of God, but the keeping of their 
own traditions, the adoption of their own doctrines, 
then say, ^ Is Saul also among the prophets ?^ 

If perchance custom be objected, consider what 
the Lord hath said, 'I am the truth and the life/ 
He did not say, I am the custom. Custom, how- 
ever general, must be subjected to truth; and 
usage, if contrary to truth, must be abolished. — 
Even Peter yielded when Paul declared to him the 
truth. Since Christ is the truth, we are bound to 
follow the truth in preference to custom ; for rea- 
son and truth must always be superior to custom. 
— Custom, without truth, is the antiquity of error. 
— As Christ only is to be listened to, w^e are not 

* Veil, Bed. Expos, in Sam lib. ill. 



xlvi 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 



to reg-ard what any man supposes to have been the 
practice before us; but what Christ did, who is 
above all men. For the custom of men must not 
be followed, but the truth of God; since God by 
the prophet Isaiah speaks and says, ' In vain do 
they worship me, teachin^^ the commandments and 
doctrines of men/ " ^ 

Enough has now been said, to show the useful- 
ness of the ancient Creeds and the purest early tra- 
dition, and to guard against their being misunder- 
stood and misused. The plain and simple Exposi- 
tion of Archbishop Leigh ton conducts us to the 
best use and practical benefit of the Creed. With- 
out that use and benefit, all theoretical acquaint- 
ance with its principles, and all historical inquiry 
into its origin and its design, will not either pro- 
duce or increase genuine faith ; but will only be 
an aggravation of guilt, and will betray us into a 
deeper condemnation. The true nature of the 
Faith of a Christian,'' says the judicious and 
learned Bishop Pearson, " as the state of Christ's 
Church now stands and shall continue to the end 
of the world, consists in this, that it is an assent 
unto truths credible upon the testimony of God deli- 
vered unto us in the writi7igs of the apostles and 
projjhets.^' ^ 

The most obvious consideration, therefore, arising 

* Juris Canon. Dist. viii. c. 5, 6, 8, 9. 
^ On the Creed, p. 12, ed. 1669. 



INTRODUCTORY KSSAY. 



xlvii 



from this view of Faith is, that it presupposes a 
duteous and entire reliance upon the veracity and 
authority of God; to whose perfections truth, infi- 
nite and original truth, belongs, and who is the 
Author and Revealer of truth to mankind. With 
what solemn and grateful sentiments should this 
reflection affect our hearts ! At the very threshold 
of the Christian temple, it puts us in mind that real 
faith is not a cold exercise of the judgment, not an 
assent to a metaphysical hypothesis, not an indo- 
lent notion of belief passively produced by educa- 
tion and custom, but which has no hold upon the 
principle of mental affections, the seat of sensibi- 
lity, the spring* of character and action. This prin- 
ciple in our intellectual and moral being- is, in the 
Scriptures and very extensively in the languages of 
men of every ag-e and in all deg-rees of culture, 
called, metaphorically indeed, but most signifi- 
cantly, the HEART. It is that to the soul, which 
the organic heart is to the bodily frame, — the 
spring of life. Now, the inspired word declares, 
' With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.' ^ 
Let but this tender and solemn feeling be produced, 
let but the heart of the soul be awakened to the 
perception of the truth, respecting the things of its 
own infinite and eternal interest, — and all other 
things will sink into comparative unimportance; 



Rom. X. 10. 



xlviii 



INTEODUCTOBY ESSAY. 



pleasure, property, respect and honour from men, 
— ah ! what are they if I die in my sins ? My 
perceptions of God convince me of his perfect rec- 
titude : his word shows me, by the clearest proofs, 
that he is * of purer eyes than to behold evil, and 
that he cannot look upon iniquity ' with favour, or 
connivance, or indifference, or with any other dis- 
position than infinite detestation. ' What would 
it profit me, if I could gain the whole world, and 
lose my own soul ? — ^What must I do to be saved ? 
— What must I do that I may inherit eternal 
life?' 

The mind thus excited, and under the influence 
of just views, cannot rest in a state of uncertainty. 
Scepticism and indifference cannot stand, before 
the conviction of a God perfect in all excellence. To 
the most momentous inquiry that a human being 
can propose, the Creed, the Eule of Eaith, and the 
Scriptures, unite in presenting the simple, grand 
and reviving object, Jesus Cheist the only Soisr 
OF Gon, ouK Loud, the Savioue of the woeld. 
Him ' hath God set forth, to be a propitiation, 
through faith in his blood ; to declare his righteous- 
ness for the remission of sins that are past, through 
the forbearance of God ; to declare at this time his 
righteousness ; that he might be just, and the justi- 
fier of him that believeth in Jesus.' ^ To the 



1 Rom. iii. 25, 26. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



xlix 



mind thus instructed^ the facts and the doctrines 
concerning Christ our Redeemer, now appear in 
their mighty interest, their supreme glory, their 
attractive charm. It hears him, in his most 
condescending word, saying, ^ Come unto me, 
and I will give you rest.' It is convinced that 
pardon and purity, deliverance from the con- 
demnation of sin and from its odious tyranny, 
can be obtained in no other way : but, were even 
the acquisition possible by alien means, this way 
of salvation is manifestly so good, so wise, so holy, 
so worthy of the Deity, and so replete with bless- 
ings to the penitent and believing recipient, that 
no other does his soul desire. This w ay of salva- 
tion shines with a beauty so divinely bright, that 
he from the heart says, ' God forbid that I should 
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I 
unto the world ! — ^^Vhat things were gain to me, 
those I have counted loss for Christ: yea, doubt- 
less, and I count all things but loss for the excel- 
lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, 
^ for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, 
and do count them but dung, that I may win 
Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own 
righteousness which is of the law^ but that which 
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness 
which is of God by faith.^ 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



God in his infinite mercy grant that this may 
be the faith and hope and holy joy, in life and in 
death, of him that writes and of all that shall read 
these lines ! 

The other treatises of the excellent Archbishop, 
which the Editors have included in this volume, 
need not to be particularly adverted to. They 
will sufficiently approve themselves to the devout 
and meditative Christian. 

J RS. 



Jan, 24, 1835 



CONTENTS. 



As Exposition of the Creed 

An Expositton of the Lord's Prayer 

Ak Exposition of the Ten Command^/ents 

A Discourse on Matthew, xxii. 37, 38, 39 

A Discourse on Hebrews, viii. 10. 

Expository Lectures on Psalm xxxix 



EXPOSITION 

OF THE 

CREED. 



I 



AN 

EXPOSITION, &c. 



1 Tim. III. 9. 

Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 

That which was the apostles practice, as he ex- 
presses it/ is the standing duty of all the ministers 
of the same Gospel : ' to the weak to become as 
weak, to gain the weak ; and all things to all men, 
that if by any means they may save some.' And 
truly one main part of observance of that rule, is in 
descending to the instruction of the most ignorant 
in the principles of Christian religion. That I aim 
at, at this time, is a very brief and plain exposition 
of the articles of our faith, as we have them in that 
summary confession. Not staying you at all on 
the antiquity and authority of it, both which are 
confessed ; whether it was penned by the apostles, 
or by others in their time, or soon after it, it doth 
very clearly and briefly contain the main of their 
divine doctrine. 

But though it be altogether consonant with the 
scriptures, yet not being a part of the canon of 

1 1 Cor. ix. 22. 

B 2 



4 



AN EXP SITION OF THE CREED. 



them, I choose these words as pertinent to our in- 
tended explication of it. They are indeed here, as 
they stand in the context, a rule for deacons f but 
without question, taken in general, they express 
the great duty of all that are Christians, ' to keep 
the mystery of the faith,' &c. 

You see clearly in them a rich jewel, and a pre- 
cious cabinet fit for it; the mystery of faith laid 
up, and kept in a pure conscience. And these two 
are not only suitable, but inseparable, as we see in 
the first chapter of this epistle,* they are preserved 
and lost together, they suffer the same shipwreck: 
the casting away of the one is the shipwreck of the 
other ; if the one perish, the other cannot escape. 
Every believer is the temple of God ; and as the ta- 
bles of the law were kept in the ark, this pure con- 
science is the ark that holds the mystery of faith. 
You think you are believers, you do not question 
that, and would take it ill that others should ; it is 
very hard to convince men of unbelief, directly and 
in itself : but if you do believe this truth, that the 
only receptacle of saving faith is a purified con- 
science, then I beseech you, question yourselves 
concerning that ; being truly answered in it, it will 
resolve you touching your faith, which you are so 
loath to question in itself Are your consciences 
pure? Have you a living hatred and antipathy 
against all impurity? Then sure faith is there; 
for it is the peculiar virtue of faith to purify the 
heart,^ and the heart so purified is the proper resi- 
dence of faith, where it dwells and rests as in its 
natural place. But have you consciences that can 
lodge pride, and lust, and malice, and covetousness. 



1 Verse 10. 



^ Acts, XV. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



6 



and such-like pollutions ? Then be no more so 
impudent as to say, you believe, nor deceive your- 
selves so far as to think you do. The blood of 
Christ never speaks peace to any conscience, but 
the same that it purifies * from dead works to serve 
the living God.'^ As that blood is a sacrifice to 
appease God's wrath, so it is a laver to wash our 
souls, and to serve both ends; it is, as was the 
blood of legal sacrifices, both offered up to .God 
and sprinkled upon us, as both are expressed in 
the apostle's words there. Do not think that God 
will throw this jewel of faith into a sty or kennel, a 
conscience full of defilement and uncleanness. 
Therefore if you have any mind to these comforts 
and peace, that faith brings along with it, be care- 
ful to lodge it where it delights to dwell, in a pure 
conscience. Notwithstanding the unbelieving world 
mocks the name of purity; yet study you above all, 
that purity and holiness that may make your souls 
a fit abode for faith, and that peace which it work- 
eth, and that Holy Spirit tliat works both in you. 

Faith is either the doctrine which we believe, or 
that grace by which we believe that doctrine : here 
I conceive it is both, met and united in the soul, as 
they say of the understanding in the schools, hilel- 
ligendo Jit illud quod intelligit ; so faith apprehend- 
ing its proper object, is made one with it. Faith is 
kept in a pure conscience ; that is, both that pure 
doctrine of the gospel which faith receives, and that 
faith which receives it, are together fitly placed 
and preserved, when they are laid up in a pure 
conscience. The doctrine of faith cannot be re- 
ceived into nor laid up in the soul, but by that faith 



« Heb. IX. 13, 14. 



6 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



that believes it, and that faith hath no being with- 
out believing that doctrine ; and both are fitly call- 
ed the ' mystery of flxith.' The doctrine is mysteri- 
ous, and it is a mysterious work to beget faith in 
the heart to receive it : for the things we must be- 
lieve are very high and heavenly, and our hearts 
are earthly and base till the Spirit renew them. In 
our confession of faith we have both expressed. The 
first word is a profession of failh, which receives 
the doctrine as true, I believe; and the articles them- 
selves contain the sum of the doctrine believed : 
and if we that profess this faith have within us 
pure consciences, wherein the mystery of faith, the 
doctrine of faith believed and the grace of faith 
believing it, both together as one, may reside, dwell, 
and be preserved ; then is the text completely an- 
swered in the present subject. 

Remember then, since we profess this faith, 
which is the proper seat of faith ? Not our books, 
our tongues only, or memories, or judgment, but 
our conscience; and not our natural conscience de- 
filed and stuflTed with sin, but renewed and sancti- 
fied by grace, * holding the mystery of the faith in 
a pure conscience.' 

/ believe in God the Father,'] Not to insist here 
on the nature of faith, taking it as comprehensively 
as we can, it is no other but a supernatural belief 
of God, and confidence in him. Whether we call 
God, or the word of God, the object of faith, there 
is no material difference, for it is God in the word, 
as revealed by the word, that is that object. God 
is that Veritas incomplexa (as they speak) that faith 
embraces; and the word, the Veritas complexa, 
that contains what we are to conceive of God, and 
believe concerning him. Asia the gospel, the pe- 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



7 



culiar object of that faith that saves fallen man, it 
is all one whether we say it is Christ or the pro- 
mises: for it is Christ revealed and held forth in 
the promises that faith lays hold on ; 'in him are 
all the promises of God yea, and in him amen/ 
So that it is all one act of faith that lays hold on 
Christ and on the promises, for they are all one, he 
is in them ; and therefore faith rests on them, be- 
cause they include Christ, who is our rest and our 
peace, as a man at once receives a ring and the 
precious stone that is set in it. This once rightly 
understood, any further dispute about placing faith 
in the understanding or the will, is possibly in itself 
not at all needful ; sure I am it is no way useful for 
you. Take heed of carnal profane presumption, 
for that will undo you ; and labour to be sure of 
such a faith as dwells in a "pure conscience, and it 
will be sure not to deceive you. 

That confidence which this expression bears, be- 
lieving in God, supposes certainly (as all agree) a 
right belief concerning God, both that he is, and 
what he is, according as the word reveals him, 
especially what he is relating to us; these three we 
have together, * He that cometh to God must be- 
lieve that God is, and that he is a re warder of them 
that diligently seek him.* ^ 1. That he is. 2. To 
trust his word, believing that he is true to his pro- 
mises, a re warder of them that seek him. 3. Upon 
these follows coming to him, which is this, believ- 
ing in that God whom the apostle speaks of; that re- 
liance and restingof the soul upon liim which results 
from that right belief concerning him, and trusting 
the testimony of his word, as it reveals him. 



» Heb. xi. 6. 



6 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



We have discoursed of the attributes of God 
elsewhere, as also of the Trinity, which is here ex- 
pressed in these words ; I believe in God the Fa- 
ther , the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That sub- 
lime mystery is to be cautiously treated of, and 
rather humbly to be admired than curiously dived 
into. The day will come (truly a day, for here we are 
beset with the gloomy nightly shades of ignorance,) 
wherein we shall see him as he is. In the mean- 
time let us devoutly worship him, as he has re- 
vealed himself to us ; for this is the true way to 
that heavenly country, where we shall see him 
face to face. And it is our interest here to believe 
the trinity of persons in the unity of the Godhead, 
and to trust in them as such ; for this is the spring 
of all our hope, that the middle of the three be- 
came our mediator, and the Holy Spirit our guide 
and teacher, and the Father reconciles us to him- 
self by the Son, and renews us by the Spirit. 

Father.] First the Father of his only begotten 
Son Christ, and through him our Father by 
the grace of adoption. And so Christ does clearly 
insinuate the order of our filiation, ' I ascend to 
my Father and your Father, my God and your 
God.' He says, not to our Father, but to my Fa- 
ther and your Father; first mine, and then yours 
through me. 

Almighty,] This also belongs to the attributes 
of God, so we shaM be but short on it here. 

Almighty : able in himself to do all things, and 
the source of all power in others, all the power in 
the creature being derived from him ; so that it can- 
not altogether equal his, nor resist him, no, nor at 
all be without him. Whosoever they be that 
boast most in their own strength in any kind, and. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 9 



swell highest in conceit of it, are yet but as a brit- 
tle glass in the hand of God ; he can not only break 
it to pieces by the strength of his hand, but il he do 
but withdraw liis hand from supporting it, it will 
fall and break of itself. 

Maker o f heaven and earth.'] The Son and the 
Spirit were, with the Father, authors of the crea- 
tion ; but it is ascribed to the Father particularly, in 
regard of the order and manner of their working. 
Whether natural reason may evince the creation 
of the world, we will not dispute; we know that he 
that had very much of that, and is the great mas- 
ter of it in the schools, could not see it by that 
light; yet there is enough in reason to answer all 
the false cavils of profane men, and very much to 
justify the truth of this we believe. However we 
must endeavour to believe it by divine faith, ac- 
cording to that of the apostle, ' By faith we be- 
lieve that the worlds were framed by the word of 
God.' And this is the first article we meet withal 
in the scriptures, and our faith is put to it in a 
very high point in the very entrance. 

* In the beginning God made the heaven and* 
the earth,' speaking like himself. It is not proved 
by demonstrations nor any kind of arguments, but 
asserted by the authority of God : and with that 
which begins the books of the law, John begins 
his Gospel ; that vipon his word, that by his word he 
made the world, we may believe that he did so. 

This is fitly added to the title of Almighty, as a 
work of almighty power, and therefore a clear tes- 
timony of it, and both together will suit with our 
profession of believing in him ; for this is a main 
support of our faith, to be persuaded of his power 
on whom we trust. ' Our God is able to deliver 
us,' said they ; and of ' Abraham,' the apostle says. 



10 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



' he offered up his son, accounting, or reasoning 
with himself, or laying' his reckoning, ' that God 
was able to raise him from the dead/ 

We make more bold to speak out our own ques- 
tioning the love and good will of God, because we 
think we have some reason in that from our own 
unworthiness ; but if we would sound our own 
hearts, we should often find in our distrusts some 
secret doubtings of God's power. ^ Can God pre- 
pare a table in the wilderness ?' said they, though 
accustomed to miracles, yet still unbelieving. We 
think we are strongly enough persuaded of this, but 
our hearts deceive us, The truths which we fancy 
we know when no need presses, in the time of need 
we find how little we know them." St. Bernard.* 
The heart is deceitful,^ where he is speaking of trust- 
ing. It is not for nothing that God by his pro- 
phets so often inculcates this doctrine of his power, 
and this great instance of it, the creation, when he 
promises great deliverances to his church, and the 
destruction of their enemies.^ What can ^be too 
% hard for him, that found it not too hard to make a 
world of nothing ? If thou look on the public, the 
enemies of the church are strong ; if on thyself, 
thou hast indeed strong corruptions within, and 
strong temptations without ; yet none of these are 
almighty, as thy God is. What is it thou wouldst 
have done, that he cannot do if he think fit? And 
if he think it not fit, if thou art one of his children 
thou wilt think with him, thou wilt reverence his 
wisdom, and rest satisfied with his will. This is 
believing indeed ; the rolling all our desires and 
burdens over upon an Almighty God ; and where 

^ Quas scimus cum necesse non est, ea in necessitate nesci- 
mus. — S. Bern. 

® Jer. xvii. 9. ^ Isa. xiv. 12, and li. 12. 



\ 

AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 11 



this is, it cannot choose but establish the heart in 
the midst of troubles, and give it a calm within in 
the midst of the greatest storms. 

And try what other confidences you will, they 
shall prove vain and lying in the day of trouble. 
He that thinks to quiet his mind, and find rest by 
worldly comfort, is, as Solomon compares his 
drunkard, ' as one that lies down in the midst of 
the sea,' that sleepeth on the top of a mast ; he can 
nave but unsettled rest and repose that lies there : 
' but he that trusteth in the Lord, is as Mount Sion 
that cannot be removed.' When we lean upon 
other props besides God, they prove broken reeds 
that not only fail, but pierce the hand that leans 
on them.^ 

There is yet another thing in this article, that 
serves further to uphold our faith ; that of necessity 
he that made the world by his power, doth likewise 
rule it by his providence. It is so great a fabric, 
as cannot be upheld and governed by any less 
power, than that which made it. He did not fl'ame 
this world as the carpenter his ship, tp put it into 
other hands and look no more after it ; but as he 
made it, he is the continual pilot of it, sits still at 
the helm and guides it; yea he commands the 
winds and seas, and they obey him. And this 
serves much for the comfort of the godly, but I 
cannot here insist on it. 

And in Jesus Christ.^ The two great works of 
God, by which he is known to us, are creation, 
and redemption which is a new or second creation. 
The Son of God, as God, was with the Father, as 
the worker of the former, but as God-man, he is 

^ Jer. xvii. 7. 



12 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



the author of the latter. St. John begins his Gos- 
pel with the first, and from that passes on to the 
second. * In the beginning was the Word/^ &c. 
' By him were all things made.' But the other is 
expressed, ' The Word was made flesh, and he 
dwelt among us,'^ had a tent like ours, and made 
of the same materials.^ He adds, * He was full of 
grace and truth,' and for that end, as there follows, 

* that we might all receive of his fulness, grace for 
grace.' And this is that great work of new crea- 
tion ; therefore the prophet Isaiah, foretelling this 
great work from the Lord's own mouth, speaks of 
it in these terms, ' That I may plant the heavens, 
and lay the foundation of the earth, and say unto 
Sion, thou art my people.''* That making of a new 
people to himself in Christ, is as the framing of 
heaven and earth. Now this restorement by Jesus 
Christ, supposes the ruin and misery of man by 
his fall, that sin and death under which he is born. 
This we all seem to know and acknowledge, and 
well we may, for we daily feel the woful fruits of 
that bitter j'oot ; but the truth is, the greatest part 
of us are not fully convinced, and therefore do not 
consider of this gulf of wretchedness into which we 
are fallen. If we were, there would be more cries 
amongst us for help to be drawn out and delivered 
from it ; this great Deliverer, this Saviour would be 
of more use, and of more esteem with us. But I 
cannot now insist on that point. 

• Only consider, that this makes the necessity of a 
Mediator. The disunion and distance, that sin 
hath made betwixt God and man, cannot be made 
up but by a Mediator, one to come betwixt; so 

* John, i. L ^ *B(jKr]V(oasv. 

2 Ib.i. 14. Isaiah, li. 16. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



13 



that there is now no believing' in God the Father, 
but by this believing in Jesus his Son, no appear- 
ing without horror, yea without perdition before so 
just a Judge highly offended, but by the interven- 
• tion of so powerful a Reconciler, able to satisfy and 
appease him : and he tells it us plainly and graci- 
ously, that we mistake not our way, * No man 
Cometh unto the Father but by me/ 

Few are our thoughts concerning God, and re- 
turning to him : but if we have any, this is our un- 
happiness that naturally we are subject to leave out 
Christ in them. 

We think there is something to be done. We talk 
of repentances, and prayers, and amendments, 
though w e have not these neither : but if we had 
these, there is yet one thing necessary above all 
these, that we forget ; there is absolute need of a 
Mediator to make our peace, and reduce us into 
favour with God, one that must for that end do anci 
suffer for us, what we can neither do nor suffer. 
Though we could shed rivers of tears, they cannot 
wash out the stain of any one sin ; yea there is 
some pollution in our very tears, so that they 
themselves have need to be washed in the blood of 
Jesus Christ. 

Jesus Christ. 1 Our anointed Saviour, anointed to 
be our King, our great High -priest, and our Prophet, 
and in all those our Saviour; our Prophet to teach 
lis the way of salvation ; our Priest to purchase it 
for us ; and our King to lead and protect us in the 
way, and to bring us safe to the end of it. Thus is 
his name full of sweetness and comfort, honey 
in the mouth, music in the ear, medicine in the 
heart " ^ as Bernard speaks. It is a rich ointment 



* Mel in ore, in aure melos,^ in corde medicina. 



14 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



and in the preachinc^ of the gospel an ointment, 
poured forth, diffasing" its fragrant smell, for which 
the virgins, the chaste purified souls of believers, 
love him, such as have their senses exercised, as 
the apostle speaks, their spiritual smelling not ob- 
structed with the pollutions of the world, but quick 
and open to receive and be refreshed with the smell 
of this precious name of Jesus Christ. 

His only Son,'] Other sons he hath, angels and 
men by creation and adoption, but this his only 
begotten Son as God, by eternal and ineffable ge- 
neration ; and as man peculiarly the Son of God, 
both in regard of his singular unexampled concep- 
tion by the Holy Ghost, and by that personal union 
with the Deity, which accompanied that conception; 
and by that fulness of all grace which flowed from 
that union. The unfolding of these would require a 
long time, and after all, more would remain unsaid 
and unconceived by us; for * his generation who 
r.an declare ? ' 

Let us remember this, that our sonship is the 
product of his. ' He is the only begotten Son of 
God,' ^ and yet, * To as many as received him he 
gave this privilege to be the sons of God.'^ 

Our Lord,] Both by our loyal subjection to 
him, and our peculiar interest in him, these go to- 
gether ; willing subjection and obedience to his 
laws is an inseparable companion, and therefore a 
certain evidence of our interest in his grace. 

Conceived by the Holy Ghost,] This is ' that 
great mystery of godliness, God manifested in the 
flesh the King of glory after a manner divesting 
himself of his royal robes, and truly putting on the 
form of a servant, the Holy Ghost framing him a 



' John, i. 14. 



2 Ibid. i. 12. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 15 



body in the virgin's womb. Not that it was impos- 
sible to have made his human nature sinless in the 
ordinary way (ihoug-h the schools usually give that 
reason) but that by that miraculous and peculiar 
manner of birth, he might be declared more than 
man, as being a way more congruous both to the 
greatness of his person, and the purity of his hu- 
man nature. 

Born of the Virgin Mary.'] He was not only of 
the same nature with man, which he might have 
been by a new created humanity, but of the same 
stock, and so a fit Saviour, a near kinsman, as the 
word, that in Hebrew is a Redeemer, doth signify; 
bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. We see 
then the person of our Mediator very fit for that 
his ofiBce, having both the natures of the parties at 
variance which he was to reconcile. And this 
happy meeting of God and man in the person of 
Christ, to look no further, was a very great step to 
the agreement, and a strong pledge of its accom- 
plishment. To see the nature of man that was an 
enemy, received into so close embraces with the 
Deity, as within the compass of one person, pro- 
mised infallibly a reconcilement of the persons of 
men unto God. There the treaty of peace began, 
and was exceedingly promoted by that very begin- 
ning; so that in it, there was a sure presage of the 
success. It was indeed as they say of a good begin- 
ning, dimirlium facti. Had God and man treated 
anywhere but in the person of Christ, a peace had 
never been concluded, yea it had broken up at first; 
but being in him, it could not fail, for in him they 
were already one, one person, so there they could 
not but agree, ' God was in Christ reconciling the 
world to himself.' 



16 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



2. Considering the work to be done in this 
agreement, as well as the persons to be agreed ; it 
was altogether needful that the undertaker should 
be God and man.^ The mediation was not a bare 
matter of word, but there was such a wrong done 
as required a satisfaction should be made; ( we speak 
not what God might absolutely have done, but 
what was to be done suitable to God's end, that was 
for the joint glory of justice and mercy, ' that mer- 
cy and truth might meet together, and righteousness 
and peace kiss each other and because the party 
offending was not able for it, he that would effec- 
tually suit for him, must likewise satisfy for him. 
And this Jesus Christ did, as here follows. Now 
that he might do this, it was necessary that he 
should be God able to save, and man fit to save 
man; man that he might suffer, and God that his 
suffering might be satisfying : man that he might 
die, and God that his death might have value to 
purchase life to us. 

The Son was fit to be incarnate for his work, the 
middle person in the Godhead to be man s Mediator 
with God. That we had lost was the dignity of the 
sons of God, and therefore his only Son, only fit to 
restore us to it : the beauty defaced in us was the 
image of God ; therefore the repairing and reim- 
parting, a fit work for his purest and perfectest 
image, his Son, the character of his person. 

Now this incarnation of the Word, the* Son of 
God, is the foundation of all our hopes ; the sense 
of that great promise, ' The seed of the woman 
shall bruise the serpents head and many others 
of the same substance in the prophets ; the great 

^ Humana divbitas et divina humanitas. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



17 



salvation so often foretold, and so long expected by 
the Jews. When this was fulfilled, that a virgin 
did conceive by the Holy Ghost, ' Then did the 
heavens drop down righteousness from above, and 
the earth bring forth salvation.' ^ This seems to 
be that which the church did so earnestly wish, 
O that thou wert as my brother 

Suffered under Pontius Pilate.^ Though all his 
life was one continual act of suffering, from his 
living in the cratch to his hanging on the cross ; 
yet because of the briefness of this confession, as 
likewise because this last act was the greatest and 
most remarkable of his sufferings, and the scrip- 
ture itself doth, as such, mention it most fre- 
quently, therefore it is here immediately subjoined 
to the article of his birth. 

It is not for nothing that we have the name of 
the Roman judge here expressed, under whom he 
suffered ; though it is nothing to his credit, yet it 
is to the credit of divine wisdom. Even this, con- 
sidering the nature and end of Christ's death, 
being to satisfy a pronounced sentence of justice ; 
though for others, it was a very agreeable circum- 
stance that he should not be suddenly or tumul- 
tuarily murdered, but be judicially, though un- 
justly, condemed. 

Crucified,'] Besides, it made his suffering more 
public and solemn ; and the divine providence or- 
dered this, that he should suffer under a Roman 
judge, and so fall under this Roman kind of pu- 
nishment, being in itself a very shameful and 
painful kind of death, and by the sentence of the 
law accursed, that we might have the more evi 

Isa. xlv. 8. 2 Cant. viii. 1. 

C 



18 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



dence of our deliverance from that shame, and 
pain, and curse, that was due to us ; ' The chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon him/ says the pro- 
phet, 'and by his stripes we are healed.' 

Suffered,'] That he died, and what kind of 
death you see is expressed : hut as many particu- 
lar sufferings of his body are not here mentioned, 
so none of those of his soul, but all comprehended 
in this general word, 'He suffered.' Those were 
too great to be duly expressed in so short a form, 
and therefore are better expressed by supposing 
them, and including them only in this, ' He suf- 
fered.' j^s he that drew the father among others, 
beholding the sacrificing of his own daughter, sig- 
nified the grief of the rest in their gestures, and 
visages, and tears, but drew the father veiled ; so 
here the crucifying and death of our Saviour are 
expressed, but the unspeakable conflicts of his soul 
are veiled under the general term of suffering. But 
sure, that invisible cup that came from his Father's 
hand, was far more bitter than the gall and vinegar 
from the hand of his enemies ; the piercing of his 
soul far sharper than the nails and thorns. He could 
answer these sweetly with, ' Father forgive them^ 
for they know not what they do.' But these other 
pangs drew from him another kind of word, ' My 
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' 

Died.'] No less would serve, and therefore he 
was ' obedient even unto death,' as the sentence 
against us did bear, and the sacrifices of the law 
did prefigure. When the sacrifices drew back and 
went unwillingly to the place, the heathens ac« 
counted it an ill presage. Never sacrifice more 
willing than Christ. ' I lay down my life for my 
sheep/ says he; and 'no man taketh it from me.' 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 19 



'As a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he 
opened not his mouth.' ^ ' He gave his back to the 
smiters/ &c. ^For this cause came I unto this hour, 
says he. And this his death is our life, though by 
it we are not freed from this temporal death ; yet, 
which is infinitely more, we are delivered from 
eternal death, and, which is yet more, entitled to 
eternal life ; and therefore do no more suffer this 
temporal death as a curse, but enjoy it as a bless- 
ing", and may Jook upon it now, (such as are in 
Christ, none other) not only as a day of deliver- 
ance, but of coronation ; the exchange of our pre- 
sent rags for long white robes, and a crown that 
fadeth not away. 

Buried.^ For the further assurance of his death, 
and glory of his resurrection, as likewise to com- 
mend the grave to us, as now a very sweet resting 
place. He hath warmed the cold bed of the grave to 
a Christian, that he need not fear to lie down in it, 
nor doubt that he shall rise again ; as we know and 
are after to hear that Christ did. 

Descended into helL] The more noise hath been 
about this clause, I shall make the less. The con- 
ceit of the descent of Christ's soul into the place of 
the damned, to say no more nor harder of it, can 
never be made the necessary sense of these words ; 
nor is there either any ground in Scripture, or any 
due end of such a descent, either agreed on, or at 
all allegeable to persuade the choosing it as the 
best sense of them. Not to contest other interpre- 
tations, I conceive, with submission, that it differs 
not much (possibly nothing) from the plain word 
of his burial. Not that the author or authors of 

' Isaiah, liii. 7» 

c 2 



20 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



this so brief a confession, would express one thing 
by clivers words, but that it may be, in the an- 
cientest copies, only the one of them hath been in 
the text ; and in after copies, in transcribers' hands, 
the other hath crept into it, out of the margin. 
But retaining it by all means as it is, it may sig- 
nify the abode and continuance of Christ's body in 
the grave ; in which time he seemed to have been 
swallowed up of death, and that the pit had shut 
her mouth on him : but it appeared quickly other- 
wise ; for, 'the third day he arose from the dead.' 

These are great things indeed that are spoken con- 
cerning Jesus Christ, his birth and sufferings ; but 
the greater our unhappiness, if we have no portion in 
them. To hear of them only, and to enjoy nothing 
of them, is most miserable; and thus it is through 
our unbelief Were it as common to believe in 
him, as to repeat these w^ords, or to come to church 
and hear this gospel preached, then you would all 
make a pretty good plea on it; but believe it, it is 
another kind of thing to believe than all that, or 
than any thing that the most of us yet know. My 
brethren, do not deceive yourselves ; that common 
highway faith will not serve ; you are, for all that, 
still unbelievers in Christ's account; and if so, for 
all the riches of comfort that are in him, you can 
receive none from him. Tt is a sad word that he 
says, 'Because ye believe not in me, ye shall die in 
your sins ;' ' though I died for sins, not mine own 
but others, yet you remaining in ungodliness and 
unbelief, that shall do you no good, ye shall die in 
your sins for all that.' It is such a faith as endears 
Chr?st to the soul, unites it to him, makes Christ 
and it one, that makes all that is his to become 
ours; then we shall conclude aright, Christ hath 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 21 



suffered, therefore I shall not. As he said to them 
that came to take him^ ' Is it I you seek ? then let 
these go free so to the law and justice of God, 
Seeing you have sought and laid hold on me, and 
made me suffer, let these go free that lay hold on 
me by faith ; if you have any thing to say to them, I 
am to answer for them, yea, I have done it already." 

2. You that believe and live by this death : be 
often in reviewing it, and meditating on it, that 
your souls may be ravished with the admiration of 
such love, and warmed with a reflex love to him.^ 
Other wonders, as you say, last for a while, but 
this is a lasting wonder, not to the ignorant, ^the 
cause of wonder at other things, is ignorance in- 
deed,) but this is an everlasting wonder to those 
that know it best, viz. to the very angels. Let that 
loved Jesus be fixed in your hearts, who was for 
you nailed to the cross.^ St. Bernard wonders that 
men should think on any thing else ; quantcB insa- 
nice post tanti Regis* adveiitum aliis negotiis, ^c. 
Sure it is great folly to think and esteem much of 
any thing here, after his appearing ; the sun arising, 
drowns all the stars. And withal, be daily cruci- 
fying sin in yourselves, be avenged on it for his 
sake, and kill it because it killed him. 

3. Will you think any thing hard to do or suffer 
for him, that undertook and performed to the full 
so much for you ?^ If you had rather be your own 
than Christ^s, much good do it you with your- 

^ Mira del dignitas, mira indignitas nostra. — How wondrous, 
God's condescension ! Not less wondrous, our un worthiness." 

2 Donee totus fixus in corde, qui totus fixus in cruce. 

^ Intolerabilis est impudentia, ut ubi se exinanivit majestas, 
vermiculus infletur et intumescat — It is arrogance insuffer- 
able, that a miserable worm should inflate and swell itself, before 
that majesty which laid itself aside." 



22 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



selves; but know, that if you are not Christ's but 
your own, you must look for as little of him to be 
yours. If ye be your own, you must bear all your 
own sins, and all the wrath that is due to them. 
But if you like not that, and resolve to be no more 
your own but Christ's, then what have you to do 
but cheerfully to embrace, yea, earnestly to seek 
all opportunities to do him service ? 

4. These are the steps of Christ's humiliation; 
look on them then so, as to study to be like him 
particularly in that : surely the soul that hath most 
of Christ, hath most humility. It is the lesson he 
pejpliarly recommends to us from his own exam- 
ple, which is the shortest and most effectual wa^ o. 
teaching, ' Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly 
in heart.^ He says well, ' Let man be ashamed to 
be any longer proud, for whom God himself hum- 
bled himself so low.'* He became humble to ex- 
piate our pride, and yet we will not banish that 
pride that undid us, and follow that way of salva- 
tion, which is humility. Jesus Christ is indeed the 
lily of the valleys ; he grows nowhere but in the 
humble heart. 

Rose again the third daij,'] When humbled to 
the lowest, then nearest his exaltation, as Joseph in 
the prison. He could die, for he was a man, and 
a man for that purpose, that he might die ; but he 
could not be overcome by death, for he was God, 
yea, by dying, he overcame death, and so showed 
himself truly the Lord of life. He strangled that 
lion in his own den. The whale swallowed Jonah, 
but it could not digest him; it was forced to cast 

» Erubescat homo superbus esse, propter quern humilis factus 
est Deus. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



23 



him up again at the appointed time, the same with 
the time here specified, wherein the prophet was a 
figure of this great prophet Jesus Christ. The 
grave hath a terrible appetite, devours all,, and 
still cries, 'Give, give, and never hath enough,' as 
Agur«ays; yet for all its appetite, Christ was too 
great a morsel for it to digest, too strong a pri- 
soner for all its bars and iron gates to keep him in. 
' It was impossible he should be holden of it,^ says 
St. Peter.^ 

He hath made a breach through death, opened 
up a passage on the other side of it into life, though 
otherwise indeed vestigia nulla retrorsum. They 
that believe, that lay hold on him by faith, they 
come through with him, follow him out at the same 
breach, pass through death into heaven ; but the 
rest find not the passage out. It is as the Red Sea, 
passable only to the Israelites. Therefore they must 
of necessity sink quite downwards through the 
grave into hell, through the first death into the 
second, and that is the most terrible of all : that 
death is indeed what one called the other, " the 
most terrible of all terribles," ' the king of terrors,* 
as it is in Job. 

Now the only assurance of that happy second 
resurrection to the life of glory hereafter, is the first 
resurrection here to the life of grace; 'Blessed 
are they that are partakers of the first resurrection, 
for on such the second death hath no power.^ For 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to the believer, 
the evidence of his redemption completed, that 
all was paid by Christ as our surety, and so he set 
at liberty, (which the apostle teaches us, when he 

^ Acts, ii. 



24 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED 



saySj 'he arose for our righteousness;' and again, 
'it is God that justifies, who shall condemn; it is 
Christ that died, or rather that is risen again.') 
Nor it only the pattern and pledge of a believer's 
resurrection, but it is the efficient both of that last 
resurrection of his body to glory, and of the first, 
of his soul to grace. 

The life of a believer is derived and flows forth 
from Christ as his head, and is mystically one life 
with his, and therefore so, as himself expresseth it, 
' Because I live, ye shall live also,' ^ Therefore is 
he called the ' first begotten from the dead, and the 
beginning,'^ er iraaiv TrpcoTevujv. He is first in all, 
and from him spring all these streams that ' make 
glad the city of God/ Therefore the apostle, in his 
thanksgiving for our new life and lively hopes, 
leaves not out that, 'Blessed be God, the Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ;' that is the conduit of all. 
And he expresses it in the same place, that ' we are 
begotten again to a lively hope, by the resurrection 
of Jesus from the dead.' But, alas ! we prejudge 
ourselves of all that rich comfort that is wrapped up 
in this, by living to ourselves and our lusts, and to 
the world, having not our consciences purified from 
dead works. How few of us are there that set that 
ambition of Paul before us, ' desiring above all 
things to know him, and the power of his resurrec- 
tion.' ' To be made conformable,' that is the know- 
ledge, as he there expresses it, a lively experienced 
knowledge of that power. 

2. This, rightly considered, will answer all our 
doubts and fears in the church's hardest times; 
when in its deliverance there appears nothing but 

« Joh. xiv. 19. Col. i. 18* 



J 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



25 



impossibilities; so lovj that its enemies are per- 
suaded to conclude, that it shall never rise again, 
and its friends are oppressed with fearing- so much: 
yet he that brought up his own Son Jesus from the 
dead, can and will restore his church, for which he 
gave that his only begotten Son to the death. ' Son 
of man,' says he, ^ can these dry bones live (thus 
often looks the church's deliverance, which is there 
the proper sense.) The prophet answered most 
wisely, ' Lord, thou knowest,' it is a work only 
for thee to know and to do and by his Spirit 
they were revived. And here it looked as hopeless, 
as the disciples thought they were at giving it over, 
and blaming almost their former credulity, ^ We 
trusted that it had been he that should have de- 
livered Israel ; and besides all this, to-day is the 
third day.' True the third day was come, but it 
was not yet ended ; yea, he rose in the beginning 
of it, though they yet knew it not, nor him present 
to whom they spake : but toward the end of it, they 
likewise knew that he was risen, when he was 
pleased to discover himself to them. Thus, though 
the enemies of the church prevail so far against it, 
that it seems buried, and a stone laid to the grave's 
mouth, yet it shall rise again, and at the very fittest, 
the appointed time, as Christ the third day. Thus 
the church expresses her confidence, ' in the third 
day he will raise us up.' ^ Whatsoever it suffers, it 
shall gain by it, and be more beautiful and glorious 
in its restorement.^ 

He ascended into heaven,^ rose again, not to 

remain on earth as before, but to return to his 

* Hos. vi. ], 2. 
Mergas profundo, pulchrior exilit. — " Plunge him into the 
pit^ and he springs forth more glorious still." 



26 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



throne of majesty, from whence his love drew him, 
according to his prayer/ which was a certain pre- 
diction of it. He had now accomplished the great 
work he came for, and was therefore by the cove- 
nant and transaction betwixt bis Father and him, 
to be exalted to his former glory ; the same person 
that before, but with the surcease of another nature, 
which he had not before, and of a new relative dig- 
nity, being to sit as King of his church, which he 
had purchased with his blood. 

And to express this, it is added, that Mie sits at 
the right hand of God.'^ By which, according to 
its allusive sense, is expressed, not only his match- 
less glory, but his dominion and rule as Prince of 
Peace, the alone King of his church, her supreme 
Lawgiver and mighty Protector, and Conqueror of 
all his enemies, ruling his holy hill of Zion with 
the golden sceptre of his word, and breaking his 
enemies, the strongest of them, in pieces, w4th the 
iron rod of his justice ; as we have it in the second 
Psalm. They attempt in vain to unsettle his throne, 
it is very far out of their reach, as high as the right 
hand of God ; ' For ever, O God^ thy throne is esta- 
blished in heaven.' What way is there for the 
worms of this earth to do any thing against it ? 

As in these is the glory of Christ, so they con- 
tain much comfort to a Christian. In that very 
elevation of our nature to such dignity, is indeed, 
as the ancients speak, mira dignatio, that our flesh 
is exalted above all the glorious spirits, the angels ; 
and they adore the nature of man, in the person of 
man^s glorified Saviour, the Son of God. This ex- 

* Johuj xvii. 

* P^alm ex. 1. Eph. i. 20, 2L 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



27 



altation of Jesus Christ doth so reflect a dignity on 
the nature of mankind ; but the right and posses- 
sion of it is not universal, but is contracted and 
appropriate to them that believe on him. ' He 
took not on him the nature of angels/ says the 
apostle, but ' the nature of the seed of Abraham/ 
He says, not the nature of man, though it is so, but 
of the seed of Abraham ; not so much because of 
his descent from that particular stock after the flesh, 
as in the spiritual sense of Abraham's seed, as it is 
at large cleared/ The rest of mankind forfeits all 
that dignity and benefit that arises to their nature 
in Christ, by their distance and disunion from him 
through unbelief. But the believer hath not only 
naturally one kind of being with the humanity of 
Christ, but is mystically one with the person of 
Christ, with whole Christ, God-man, and by virtue 
of that mysterious union, they that partake of it, 
partake of the very present happiness and glory of 
Christ, they have a real interest in whatsoever he 
is and hath, in all his dignities and power ; and in 
that sense they that are justified are glorified, in 
that Christ is exalted, they are so too in him. 
Y\^here a part, and a chief part of themselves is, 
and is in honour, there they may account them- 
selves to be." A man is said to be crowned when 
the crown is set upon his head, now our head Christ 
is already crowned. 

In sum, believers have in this ascending and en- 
throning of Christ, unspeakable comfort through 
their interest in Christ, both in consideration of his 
present affection to them, and his effectual inter- 
cession for them ; and in the assured hope this 

' Rom. ix. ^ Ubi portio mea regnat, ibi me regnare credo. 



28 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



gives them of tbeir own after happiness and glory 
with him. 

1. In all his glory he forgets them not, he puts 
not off his bowels with his low condition here, but 
hath carried it along to his throne ; his majesty 
and love suit very well, and both in the highest 
degree;' as all the waters of his sufferings did not 
quench his love. Nor left he it behind him buried 
in the grave, but it arose with him being stronger 
than death ; so he let it not fall to the earth when 
he ascended on high, but it ascended with him, 
and he still retains it in his glory. And that our 
flesh, which he took on earth, he took up into 
heaven, as a token of indissoluble love, betwixt him 
and those whom he redeemed, and sends down 
from thence as the rich token of his love, his Spirit 
into their hearts; so that these are mutual remem- 
brances. Can he forget his own on earth, having 
their flesh so closely united to him ? You see he 
does not, he feels what they suffer, ' Saul, Saul, 
why persecutest thou me ?' And can they forget 
him whose Spirit dwells in them, and records lively 
to their hearts the passages of his love, and brings 
all those things to their remembrance, (as himself 
tells us, that Spirit would do,) and so indeed proves 
the Comforter by representing unto us that his 
love, the spring of our comforts ? And when we 
send up our requests, we know of a friend before 
us there, a most true and a most faithful friend that 
fails not to speak for us, what we say and mucli 
more ; ' He liveth,' says the apostle, ' to make inter- 
cession for us.' This is the ground of the Chris- 

^ Bene conveniunt, et in una sede morantur, 
* Majestas et amor. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 29 



tian's boldness at the throne of grace : yea therefore 
is the Father's throne the throne of grace to us, 
because the throne of our Mediator Jesus Christ is 
beside it : he sits at his right hand, otherwise it 
could be nothing to us but a throne of justice, and 
so in regard of our guiltiness, a throne of terror and 
affrightment, which we would rather fly from, than 
draw near unto. 

Lastly, as we have the comfort of such a friend, 
to prepare access to our prayers there, that are the 
messengers of our souls ; so of this, that our souls 
themselves when they remove from these houses of 
clay, shall find admission there through him. And 
this he tells his disciples again and again, and in 
them all his own, that their interest was so much 
in his ascending to his glory, ^ I go to prepare a 
place for you, that where I am, there ye may be 
also.^ 

2. It will not be hard to persuade them that be- 
lieve these things, and are portioners in them, to set 
their hearts on them, and for that end to take them 
off from all other things as unworthy of them ; yea, 
it wdll be impossible for them to live without the 
frequent and sweet thoughts of that place where 
their Lord Jesus is. Yet it is often needful to 
remember them, that this cannot be enough done ; 
and by representing these things to them, to draw 
them more upwards ; and it is best done in the 
apostle's words, 'If ye be risen with Christ, mind 
those things that are above, where he sits.^ If 
ye be risen with him, follow him on, let your 
hearts be where he is ; they that are one with him, 
the blessed seed of the woman, do find that unity 
drawing them heavenwards. But, alas ! the most 
of us are liker the accursed seed of the serpent. 



30 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



basely ^rovellin^ on this earth, and licking the 
dust ! The conversation of the believer is in heaven, 
where he hatb a Saviour, and from whence he looks 
for him. Truly there is little of a true Christian 
bere, (and that argues that there is little of the 
truth of Christianity among us, who are altogether 
here:) his head in beaven, and his heart there, and 
these are the two principles of life. Let us then 
suit the apostle's advice, and so enjoy the comfort 
be subjoins, that by our affections above, we may 
know, 'that our life is hid with Christ in God; 
and therefore, that when he, who is our life, shall 
appear, we likewise shaM appear with him in glory. 

From thence he shall come to judge, &c.] We 
have in this to consider, 1. That there is a uni- 
versal judgment. 2. That Christ is the judge. 
3. Something to be added of the quality of the 
judgment; all the three we have together in Acts, 
xvii. 31. 

That it is, is we know, the frequent doctrine of 
the Scriptures, and hath been ever the belief of the 
godly from the beginning, as we may perceive by 
that ancient prophecy of Enoch, recorded by St. 
Jude, and we are so to believe it as a divine truth : 
and yet there is so mucb just reason for it, that 
natural men by the few sparkles of light in their 
consciences, have had some dark notions and con- 
jectures of it; as is evident in Plato and tbe Plato- 
nics, and not only the philosophers but the poets, 
it may be too, that they have been helped by some 
scattered glimmerings of light concerning this, bor- 
rowed from the Jews, and traditionally passed from 
hand to hand among the heatben, and therefore 
disguised and altered after their fashion. 

If we be persuaded that there is a supreme Ruler of 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



31 



the world, who is most wise, and just, and good, 
this will persuade us not only that there is some 
other estate and being-, than that we see here, ap- 
pointed for man, the most excellent, the reasonable 
part of this visible word ; but that there shall be a 
solemn judicial proceeding, in entering and stating 
him in that after being. The many miseries of this 
present life, and that the best of men are usually 
deepest sharers in them, though it bath a little stag- 
gered, not only wise heathens, but sometimes some 
of the prime saints of God, yet it hath never pre- 
vailed with any but brutal and debauched spirits, 
to conclude against divine providence, but rather to 
resolve upon this, that of necessity there must l}e 
another kind of issue, a final catastrophe reducing 
all the present confusions into order, and making 
all odds even, as you say. * It is true that some- 
times here, the Lord's right hand finds out his ene- 
mies, and is known by the judgment which he exe- 
cutes on them ; and on the other side, gives some 
instances of his gracious providence to his church, 
and to particular godly men, even before the sons 
of men : but these are but some few preludes and 
pledges of that great judgment, some he gives, that 
we forget not his justice and goodness, but much 
is reserved, that we expect not all nor the most here 
but hereafter. And it is certainly most congruous 
that this be done, not only in each particular apart, 
but most conspicuously in all together, that the jus- 
tice and mercy of God may not only be accom- 
plished, but acknowledged and magnified, and that 
not only severally in the several persons of men 
and angels, but universally, jointly, and manifestly 

^ Cum res hominum tanta caligine volvi. — Claud 



32 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



in the view of all, as upon one theatre, angels and 
men being at once, some of them the objects of 
that justice, others of mercy, but all of them spec- 
tators of both. Each ungodly man shall not only 
read, whether he will or no, the justice o , God in 
himself, and his own condemnation, which most of 
them shall do before that time in their soul's parti- 
cular judgment : but they shall then see the same 
justice in all the rest of the condemned world, and 
the rest in them, and to the great increase of their 
anguish, they shall see likewise the glory of that 
mercy, that shall then shine so bright in all the 
elect of God, from which they themselves are justly 
shut out, and delivered up to eternal misery. 

And on the other side, the godly shall with un- 
speakable joy behold not only a part as before, but 
the whole sphere both of the justice and mercy 
of their God, and shall with one voice admire 
and applaud him in both . Besides, the process of 
many men's actions cannot be full at the end of 
their life, as it shall be at that day ; many have 
very large after-reckonings to come upon them for 
those sins of others to which they are accessory, 
though committed after their death, as the sins of 
ill educated children to be laid to the charge of 
their parents, the sins of such as any have cor- 
rupted, either by their counsels, or opinions, or 
evil examples, &c. 

2. He, the Lord Jesus shall be Judge in that 
great day, the Father, the Spirit, and his authority 
are all one, for they are all one God and one Judge; 
but it shall be particularly exercised and pro- 
nounced by our Saviour God-man, Jesus Christ 
That eternal Word by whom all things were made 
by him all shall be judged, and so he shall be 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



33 



^ the Word in that last act of time, as in the first ; 
he shall judicially pronounce that great and final 
sentence, that shall stand unalterable in eternity : 
and not only as the eternal Son of God, but withal 

^ tlie Son of Man, and so sit as King", and invested 
with all power in heaven and earth. ^ By that 

^ Man whom he hath appointed to judge the quick 
and the dead.'^ 'This same Jesus shall so come, 
in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven/* 
The powers of the world and of hell are combined 

^ against his throne, therefore they shall be his foot- 
stool sitting on that throne, and the crown which 
he hath purchased for believers, he shall set it on 
their heads with his own hand. This shall be 

. exceeding joy and comfort to all that have believed 
on him, that their Redeemer shall be their judge, 
he that was judged for them, shall judge them and 
pass sentence according to that covenant of grace 
that holds in him, pronouncing them free from 

f the wrath which he himself endured for them, and 
heirs of that life that he bought with his dearest 
blood. 

And that gives no less accession to the misery of 
the wicked, that the same Jesus whom they op- 
posed and despised, so many of them as heard any 
thing of him, he shall sit upon their final judgment, 
and pronounce sentence against them ; not partially, 
avenging his own quarrel on them, no word of that, 
but most justly returning them the reward of their 
ungodliness and unbelief ; that great Shepherd shall 
thus make that great separation of his sheep from 
the goats. 

3. Of the manner we have thus much here, that 



* Acts, xvii, 31. 



2 Acts, i. 11. 

D 



34 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



he shall come from heaven, as the Scriptures teach 
us.^ He shall visibly appear in the air: he shall 
^ come in the clouds of heaven with power and 
great glor}^ attended with innumerable companies 
of glorious angels that shall serve him, both in the 
congregating his elect, and segregating them from 
the reprobate ; but himself in the brightness of his 
own majesty, infinitely surpassing them all.^ His 
first coming was mean and obscure, suiting his 
errand, for then he came to be judged ; but that 
last coming shall be glorious, for he comes to 
judge, and his judgment shall be in righteousness.^ 
There shall be no misalleging, or misproving, or 
misjudging there all the judgments of men, whe- 
ther private or judicial, shall be rejudged there ac- 
cording to truth, such a Judge before whom all 
things are naked ; and not only shall he know and 
judge all aright, but all they that are judged, shall 
themselves be convinced that it is so ; then all will 
see that none are condemned but most deservedly, 
and that the Lord's justice is pure and spotless in 
them that perish, as his grace, without prejudice to 
his justice, it being satisfied in Christ for them 
that are saved. The books shall be opened, those 
that men so willingly, the most of them, keep shut 
and clasped up, and are so unwilling to look into, 
their own accusing consciences. The Lord will 
proceed formally against the wicked according to 
the books ; no wrong shall be done them, they 
shall have fair justice, and they shall see what they 
would not look upon before; when by seeing, that 
might have been blotted out, and a free acquit- 

1 Matt. xxiv. 30. « 2 Thess. i. 7- 

3 Acts, xvii. 31. 

^ Juste judicabit qui injuste judicatus est.— Aug. Justly 
he judge, who here was judged unjustly.'* 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



35 



tance written in its stead. And that the believer 
shall read in his conscience at that day, which 
through the dimness of faith and dark troubled 
estate of his soul, he many times could not read 
here below. 

We are gaping" still after new notions, but a few 
things wisely and practically known, drawn down 
from the head unto the heart, are better than all that 
variety of knowing that men are so taken up with : 
*'lt needs but little learning to have an upright 
heart." ^ This and such-like common truths we think 
we both know and believe well enough ; but truly if 
this great point, touching the great and last judg- 
ment, were indeed known and believed by us, it 
would draw our minds to more frequent and more 
deep thoughts of it; and were we often and serious 
in those thoughts, they would have such influence 
into all our other thoughts, and the whole course 
of our lives, as v/ould much alter the frame of 
them from what they are. Did we think of this 
gospel which we preach and hear, that we must 
then be judged by it, we should be now more ruled 
by it ; but the truth is, we are willingly forgetful 
of these things, they are melancholy, pensive 
thoughts, and we are content that the noise of 
affairs or any vanities fill the ear of our minds, 
that we hear them not. If we be forced at some- 
times to hear of this last judgment to come, it pos- 
sibly casts our conscience into some little trem- 
bling-fit for the time, as it did Felix ; but he was 
not, nor are we so happy, as to be shaken out of 
the custom and love of sin by it : we promise it 
fair, as he did, some other time ; but if that time 

* Faucis Uteris opus est ad mentem bonam. 

D 2 



36 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



never come, this day will come, and they that 
shun to hear or think of it, shall then see it, and 
the sight of it will be as terrible and amazing", as 
the timely thoughts of it would have been profit- 
able. It is no doubt an unpleasing subject to all 
ungodly, earthly minds ; but sure it were our wis- 
dom to be of that mind now, that then we shall 
be forced to be of; we shall then read by the light 
of that fire that shall burn the world, the vanity of 
all those things whereon we now dote so foolishly. 
Let us therefore be persuaded to think so now, and 
disengage our hearts, and fix them on him who 
shall then judge us, ' Kiss the Son,' &c. They 
are only happy that trust in him ; that which is the 
affrightment of others, is their great joy and desire ; 
they love and long for that day, both for their Sa- 
viour s glory in it, and their own full happiness, 
and that their love to his appearing, is to them a 
certain pledge of the crown they are to receive at 
his appearing,' ' at that day,^ says the apostle ; this 
day he esteems more of than all his days, there- 
fore he names it no otherwise than ' that day.' How 
may we know what day it was he meant ? His co- 
ronation-day. But of all men, sure the hypocrite 
likes least the mention and remembrance of that 
day ; there is no room for disguises there, all masks 
must come off, and all things appear just as they 
are; and that is the worst news to him that can be. 

/ believe in the Holy Ghost.~\ God is both a 
Spirit and holy ; but this name, personally taken, 
is peculiarly that of the third person, proceeding 
from the Father and the Son, by a way that can 
neither be expressed nor conceived ; holy in him- 



» 2 Tim. iv. 8. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



37 



self, and the author and cause of all holiness 
in us. 

It is neither useful nor safe for us to entangle 
our thoughts in disputes concerning this mystery, 
but it is necessary that we know, and acknow- 
ledge, and believe in this Holy Spirit ; it is he in 
whom and by whom we believe : we cannot know 
God, nor the things of God, but by the Spirit of 
God,' nor say that Jesus is God, but by the same 
spirit.^ We know that this Holy Trinity co-ope- 
rates in the work of our salvation ; the Father hath 
given us his Son, and the Son hath sent us his Spirit, 
and the Spirit gives us faith, which unites us to 
the Son, and through him to the Father : the Fa- 
ther ordained our redemption, the Son wrought 
it, the Holy Spirit reveals and applies it. 

The remaining articles have the fruit of that 
great work, the sending of the Son of God in the 
flesh, his suffering, and dying, &c. what it is, and 
to whom it belongs ; the result of Christ's incarna- 
tion and death, for whom, and for whose sake.'^ * 
Yea, the great design of God in the other great work, 
that of the first creation, was this second ; he made 
the world, that out of it he might make this elect 
world, that is called his church. The Son fell on 
sleep, on a dead sleep, indeed the sleep of death 
on the cross, that out of his side might be framed 
his spouse, which is his church. The Holy Spirit 
moving upon the souls of men in their conversion, 
aims at this same end, the gathering and com- 
pleting of his church ; he is the breath of life that 
breathed on these new creatures that make up this 
society. So then, this is as much as to say, I 

' 1 Cor.ii. 11. 2 iij^ xii.3. 

^ Cui et cujus gratia. 



38 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



verily believe that God had such a purpose in 
making the world, and in sending* his Son into it, 
and they both in sending the Spirit, and the Spirit 
in his working to make a holy church, a number 
that should serve God here, and enjoy him in eter- 
nity; and I believe that God cannot fall short of 
his end : that blessed Trinity doth not project and 
work in vain : I believe therefore there is such a 
company, there is a holy universal church; ujii- 
versa!, diffused through the several ages, and 
places, and nations of the world ; holy, washed 
in the blood of Christ, and sanctified by his Spirit ; 
that it is, that it hath in all ages continued from 
the beginning, and shall continue to the end of the 
world, increasing still and growing to its appointed 
perfection, amidst all the enmities and oppositions 
that it encounters in the world. ' I send you forth,^ 
says Christ, ' as sheep among wolves.' The pre- 
servation of the church is a continuing miracle, it 
resembles Daniel's safety among the hungry lions, 
but prolonged from one age to another. The ship, 
wherein Christ is, may be weather-beaten, but it 
shall not perish. So then, you see that this con- 
fession is altogether no other but your acknowledg- 
ment of God in himself, three in one, and one in 
three, and his w^orks of the creation of the world, 
and redemption of man by his Son, made man 
for that purpose, and appropriate to them for whom 
it was designed by his Holy Spirit; and with this 
acknowledgment, our reliance on this God as the 
author of our being and well-being. 

The communion of saints.1 This springs imme- 
diately from the former : if they make one churcb 
then they have a very near communion together; 
they are one body united to that glorious head that 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



S9 



is above; they have all one spiritual life flowing 
from him : and this communion holds not only on 
earth and in heaven apart, but even betwixt heaven 
and earth ; the saints on earth make up the same 
body with those already in glory ; they are born 
to the same inheritance by new birth, though the 
others are entered in possession before them. This 
their common title to spiritual blessings, and eter- 
nal blessedness, prejudges none of them ; their in- 
heritance is such as is not lessened by the multi- 
tude of heirs, it is entire to each one, and that 
grace and salvation that flows from Christ, * the 
sun of righteousness,' is as the light of the sun 
where it shines, none hath the less because of 
others partaking of it. The happiness of the saints 
is called ^ an inheritance in light,' which all may 
enjoy, without abatement to any ; they have each 
one their crown ; they need not, they do not envy 
one another, nor Ottoman-like, one brother kill 
another to reign alone ; yea, they rejoice in the 
happiness and salvation of one another, they are 
glad at the graces that God bestows on their 
brethren, for they know that they all belong to the 
same first owner, and return to his glory ; and 
that whatsoever diversity is in them, they all agree 
and concentre in that service and good of the 
church ; and so what each one hath of gifts and 
graces belongs to all by virtue of this communion. 
Thus ought each of them to think, and every one 
of them humbly and charitably so to use what he 
hath himself, and ingenuously to rejoice in that 
which others have, as the apostle reasons at large.* 
/ believe in the holy catholic church, and the commU" 



» 1 Cor. xii. 



40 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 

nion of saints,'] We may see the worth and the 
necessity of holiness, how much it is regarded in 
the whole work; for this very thing did Christ give 
himself for his church, ' that he might sanctify it/ 
&c/ so the end of our redemption : and if we 
look as far forward as salvation, there perfect holi- 
ness ; nothing unclean shall enter that holy city, 
and ' without holiness no man shall see God :* and 
look again as far back as our election :^ and those 
that are not partakers of this, do but delude them- 
selves, in dreaming of interest in the rest. No 
washing in the blood of Christ to remission, but 
withal ' by the Spirit to sanctifi cation no comfort 
to the unholy in their resurrection, because no 
hope of that to follow on it, that follows here, eter- 
nal life: no, without shall be dogs. In the base 
and foolish opinion of the world, holiness is a re- 
proach, or at the best but a mean poor commenda- 
tion, as you speak of it disdainfully, a good, silly, 
holy body and men are more pleased with any 
other title : they had a great deal rather be called 
learned, or wise, or stout, or comely, than holy.^ 
But God esteems otherwise of it, whose esteem is 
the true rule of worth. That forecited place, ^ a 
glorious church :* how ? Holy and without blemish ; 
that is indeed the true beauty of the soul, makes it 
like God, and that is its comeliness. We see the 
Lord himself delights to be known much by this 
style, and glorified by it, ^ Holy, Holy, Holy,^ so 
Exod. XV. * glorious in holiness;' and the Spirit of 
God still called the Holy Spirit. How much then 



' Eph. V. 26. « Ibid. i. 4. 

^ Malumus audire O virum doctum, quam O virum bonum. 
—Sen. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 41 

are they mistaken concerning heaven, that think 
to find the way to it out of the path of holiness, 
which is indeed via I'egni, the only way that leads 
unto ii . Reprove you of unholiness ; you say, you 
are not saints. No ? So much the worse, for they 
that mean to share in the pardon of sin, and eternal 
life, must be such. If you be content still not to 
be saints, go on ; but know, that they that are not 
in some measure saints in grace here, shall never 
be saints in glory hereafter. 

Forgiveness of sins,'] Notwithstanding forgive- 
ness of sins, there is a necessity of holiness, though 
not as meriting it, as leading unto happiness. But 
on the other side, notwithstanding the highest 
point of holiness we can attain, there is a necessity 
of this forgiveness of sins. Though believers make 
up a holy church and company of saints, yet there 
is a debt upon them that their holiness pays not ; 
yea, they are so far from having a superplus for a 
standing treasure after all paid, that all the holi- 
ness of the saints together, will not pay the least 
farthing of that debt they owe. ' As for me, T will 
walk in mine integrity,' says David. ^ How then, 
adds he, ihis shall justify me sufficiently P" No, 
' but redeem thou me, and be merciful to me.^ So 
1 John, i. 6, 7. ' If we say, we have no sin, we are 
liars,' — * and walk in darkness,' &c. And yet in 
the next verse, though we do walk in the light, 
yet is there need of the ' blood of Jesus Christ to 
cleanse us from all sin and so throughout the 
Scriptures. All the integrity of the godly under 
the law did not exempt them from offering sacri- 
fice, which was the expiation of sin in the figure. 



^ Psal. xxvi. 11. 



42 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



looking forward to that g-reat and spotless sacrifice, 
that was to be slain for the sins of the world ; and 
those that believe the Gospel, the application of 
that justifying blood that streams forth in the 
doctrine of the Gospel, is not only nee dful to wash 
in, for their cleansing in their first conversion, but 
to be reapplied to the soul, for taking ofif the daily 
contracted guiltiness of new sins. It is a fountain 
opened and standing open for sin and for un clean- 
ness, as that sea of brass before the sanctuary, &c. 
They that ai'e clean have still need of washing, at 
least, their feet, as Christ speaks to St. Peter. 

The consideration of that precious blood shed for 
our sins, is the strongest persuasive to holiness, and 
to the avoiding and hating of sin. So far is the 
doctrine of justification (rightly understood) from 
animating men to sin. But because of the woeful 
continuance of sin in the godly, while they continue 
in this region of sin and death, therefore is there a 
continual necessity of new recourse to this great 
expiation. Thus St. John joins these two.^ 

You think it an easy matter, and a thing that for 
your own ease you willingly believe, the forgive- 
ness of sins. It is easy indeed, after our fashion, 
easy to imagine that we believe such a thing when 
we hear it : because we let it pass and question it 
not, we think it may be true, and think no further 
on it, while we neither know truly what sin is, nor 
feel the weight of our own sins : but where a soul 
is convinced of the nature of sin, and its own guilti- 
ness, there to believe forgiveness, is not so easy a 
task. 

In believing this forgiveness of sins, and so the 



» 1 John, ii. 1, 2 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



43 



other privileges that attend it, there be these three 
things gradually leading one to the other. I, To 
believe that there is such a thing, and that it is 
purchased by the death of Christ, and so attainable 
by coming unto him for it. 2. By this the soul 
finding itself ready to sink under the burden of 
its own sins, is persuaded to go to him, and lay 
over that load on him, and itself withal resolves to 
rest on him for this forgiveness, this is to believe in 
him * who is the Lord our righteousness.' 3. Upon 
this believing on him for forgiveness, follows a re- 
flex believing of that forgiveness; not continually 
and inseparably, especially if we take the degree of 
assurance somewhat high, but yet in itself it is apt 
to follow, and often in God's gracious dispensa- 
tion doth follow upon that former act of believing, 
through the clearness and strength of faith in the 
soul, and sometimes withal, is backed with an ex- 
press peculiar testimony of God's .own Spirit. To 
believe and to grow stronger in believing, and to 
aspire to the assurance of faith is our constant 
duty: but that immediate testimony of the Spirit 
is an arbitrary beam that God reserves in his own 
hand ; yet such a gift as we may not only lawfully 
seek, but do foolishly prejudge ourselves and slight 
it, if we neglect to seek it, and want so rich a 
blessing for want of asking, and withal, labouring 
to keep our hearts in a due dispose and frame for 
entertaining it. The keeping our consciences pure, 
as much as may be, doth not only keep the com- 
fortable evidence of pardon clearest and least inter- 
rupted within us, but is the likeliest to receive 
those pure joys, that flow immediately into the 
soul from the Spirit of God. The testimony of 
our conscience is (if we damp it not ourselves) our 



44 AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



continual feast, but that testimony of the Spirit is 
a superadded taste of higher comfort out of God's 
own hand, as it were a piece of heaven in the soul, 
which he sometimes cheers it withal. Where he 
hath first given much love and ardent desires after 
himself, they are short of that light, in the fulness 
whereof we hope to dwell hereafter. But besides 
that, God is most free in that particular, and knows 
what is fittest for us. The greatest part even of 
true Christians yet do not so walk, nor attend to 
that spiritualness tliat is capable of such visits. 

The resurrection of the body.'\ The comfort ot 
these privileges, opposed to those grand evils that 
we feel or fear ; sanctification to the power of sin, 
justification or forgiveness to the guilt of sin, the 
resurrection to temporal death, and life eternal to 
the second or eternal death. 

This is the raising of the self- same body that is 
laid in the dust ; otherwise, the giving of a body to 
the soul again, must have had some other name, 
for resurrection it cannot be called. 

That God can do this, notwithstanding all ima- 
ginable difficulties in it, have we not proof enough 
in what he hath done ; sure that which he did in 
the beginning of time, the framing the whole world 
of nothing, is more than a sufficient pledge of this 
that is to be done in the end of time. 

That he will do it, we have his own word for it, 
and the pledge of it in raising his Son Jesus, there- 
fore called ' the first begotten from the dead this 
as relating to believers who are one with him. The 
resurrection of the dead in general is an act of 
power, but to the godly an act of grace, to the 
wicked of justice ; both shall rise by the power of 
Christ, but to the one as a Judge, and a Judge that 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 45 

shall condemn them ; to the other as their head, 
and their Saviour. Josephs two fellow-prisoners 
were both taken out of the prison, and at the same 
time; but the one to the court, the other to the gal- 
lows ; so in the resurrection.* 

The confession of faith being of such things as 
belong to believers, and are their happiness, there- 
fore their resurrection is particularly here intended, 
as we see eternal life and glory is subjoined to it. 

Our bodies are raised, that were companions and 
partakers of our good and evil in our abode upon 
earth, that 'they may in eternity be companions 
and partakers of our reward : those of the ungodly 
to suit their condemned souls, shall be filled with 
shame, and vileness, and misery ; and those that 
were, in their lower estate here, temples of the Holy 
Ghost, shall be filled with that fulness of joy, that 
shall run over from the soul unto them ; they shall 
be conform, to the happy and glorious souls to 
which they shall be united, yea to the glorious 
body of our Lord Jesus Christ. There shall then 
be nothing but beauty, and glory, and immortality 
in them that are now frail and mortal, and being 
dead, do putrefy and turn to the dust. He shall 
change our vile bodies, and make them like unto 
his most glorious body ; but as St. Bernard says 
well, " If we would be sure of this, that our bodies 
shall be conform to his, in the glory to come, see 
our souls be here conform to his, in that humility 
which he so much manifested whilst he dwelt 
among men." If we would that then our vile body 
be made like his glorious body, let our proud 
heart now be made like his humble heart. 



1 John, V. 29. 



46 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



Life eternal.'] Our confession of faith ends in 
that which is the end of our faith, our everlasting 
salvation, or eternal life ; of which, all that we can 
say is but stammering", and all our knowledge and 
conceiting of it but ignorance, in regard of what it 
is ; yet so much we know, or may know of it, as, 
if we knew aright, would certainly draw us more 
into the desires and pursuit of it. The very name 
of life is sweet, but then especially as it is here 
meant; in the purest and sweetest sense, for a truly 
happy life.' For a life full of misery is scarce 
worth the name of life, and the longer it were, the 
worse; therefore the miserable estate of damned 
souls, though immortal in it, is called death. So 
then by this life, true and full blessedness being 
meant, and then that added, that it is eternal life, 
what can be imas^ined more to make it desirable ? 

So happy, that there shall not be the smallest 
drop of any evil or bitterness in it, pure unmixed 
bliss, nothing present in it that is displeasing, and 
nothing wanting that is delightful ; and everlasting, 
that when millions of years (if there were any such 
reckoning) there, are rolled about, it shall be as far 
from ending as at the first. 

A very little knowledge of this blessed life, 
would make us clean out of love with the life that 
now we make such account of. What can it be that 
ties us here ? The known shortness of this life, 
were it more happy than it is to any, might make 
it of less esteem with us ; but then withal, being so 
full of miseries and sins, so stuffed with sorrows 
round about us, and within ourselves ; that if the 
longest of it can be called long, it is only the mul- 
titude of miseries in it, can challenge that name 
* Non est vivere, sed valere, vita. 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE CREED. 



47 



for it. Such a world of bodily diseases, here one's 
head paining- him, another his stomach,' some com- 
plaining of this part, some of that, and the same 
party sometimes of one malady, sometimes of 
another; what disappointments and disgraces^ and 
cross encounters of affairs ; what personal and 
what public calamities, and then sin the worst of 
all ; and yet all cannot wean us. We cannot en- 
dure to hear nor think of removing ; and the true 
reason is, unbelief of this eternal life, and the 
neglect of those ways that lead to it. Be persuaded 
at length to call in your heart from the foolish 
chace of vanity, and consider this g^lorious life that 
is set before you. Do you think the provision you 
make for this wretched present life worth so many 
hours' daily pains ; and give eternal life scarce 
half a thought in many hours, possibly not a fixed 
serious thought in many days ? Sure if you be- 
lieve there is such a thing-, you cannot but be con- 
vinced, that it is a most preposterous unwise course 
you take, in the expense of your time and pains 
upon any thing else more than on life eternal. 
Think what a sad thing it will be, think you, when 
your soul must remove out of that little cottage 
wherein it now dwells^ not to be bettered by the 
removal, but thrust out into utter darkness ; where- 
as, if ye would give up with sin, and embrace 
Jesus Christ as your joy and your life, in him you 
would resently be put into a sure unfailing right 
to this eternal life. It is a pure life, and purity of 
life her , is the only way to it. ' Blessed are the 
pure in heart, for they shall see God.' 

* Quam male nobis convenit, nunc de ventre, nunc de capite, 
&c. hoc contingere solet in alieno habitantibus. — Sen. 



AX 

EXPOSITION 

OF THE 

LORD'S PRAYER. 



AN 

E X P S I T I O N, &c. 



Matth. VI. 9. i 

After this manner therefore pray ye. 

The malice and slight of Satan, in reference to 
good actions, works first in attempting wholly to 
divert us from them ; but if that take not, the next 
is, to pervert their use, and corrupt them so in 
doing, that they lose their acceptance with God, 
and we consequently lose the fruit and comfort of 
them. And as there is no religious exercise that 
he hath more quarrel at, and owes greater enmity 
to, than prayer, being the most constant crosser of 
his designs, there is none from which he more en- 
deavours to estrange men, either wholly to lay it 
down, or to frequent cessations ; or if that cannot 
be, but that the light of conscience still calls for 
somewhat at least that may pass with a man for 
prayer, yet if Satan can get it turned to hypocrisy 
and formality, he knows he needs not fear it, for so 
it wants the life of prayer, and remains nothing 
but a dead carcass, and therefore can neither 
please ihe living God, nor hurt him who is its 
enemv, 

E 2 



62 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



Therefore our Saviour here warns his disciples 
to avoid, in praying, these two evils, 'the vain 
ostentation of hypocrites,' and 'the vain repeti- 
tion of the heathen,'* not to think it prayer to 
ttimhle out a multitude of empty words : and upon 
that takes occasion to set this matchless copy of 
prayer, the way of example heiug the shortest and 
liveliest way of teaching. These words that are 
but the entry, are not to be passed ; there is in them, 
1. The duty of prayer supposed. 2. The pre- 
scribing of this form, 1. Pray. 2. After this 
manner. 

The use and necessity of prayer is taken for con- 
fessed, as before. 'When ye pray,' and ' when thou 
prayest.^ ^ And the consideration of this exercise, 
and of this pattern of it, is with good reason account- 
ed among the most necessary principles of religion; 
without it indeed all religion withers and lan- 
guishes. The law of God is so pure and exact 
a rule, that we cannot come near the perfection of 
it, and therefore fall under its curse. When we 
understand it so, that drives us to the gospel, to 
seek salvation there ; and the articles of the gospel, 
of our Christian faith, are so high and mysterious, 
that nature cannot aright understand or believe 
them ; and therefore both law and gospel drive us 
to prayer, to seek of God renewing grace to con- 
form our hearts in some measure to the holy law of 
God, and faith to lay hold on Jesus Christ, and 
salvation in him held forth to us in the gospel. 
Prayer is not taken in its strict grammatical sense, 
in which the words used for it signify only petition 
or request ; but, as comprehending together with 



> Matt. vi. 5, 7. 



2 lb. 6, 7. 



THE lord's prayer. 



53 



petition, confession, and thanksgiving, it may be 
called briefly and plainly a pious invocation of 
God ; and not speaking abstractly of prayer, but 
according to the estate of fallen man, it is very fit 
to add the express mention of the Mediator, that is, 
an invocation of God in the name of Christ; for it 
never ascends to God as pleasing incense, but when 
it passeth through that golden censer, and is per- 
fumed with the sweet odours of his merits and in- 
tercession. His entrance into heaven hath opened 
up the w^ay for our prayers to come in, and there is 
no access to the throne of grace, but by ' that new 
and living way;' as the apostle speaks. But how 
much better is the frequent practice than much 
discourse, and business in defining it ; whatsoever 
is said aright in this, is for the other as its end, as 
Gerson hath it out of an ancient philosopher, We 
inquire what virtues are, not to know them, but to 
have them '^ and indeed to do otherwise is but an- 
swerable employment to study the nature of riches, 
and talk of them; and remain poor, possessing none. 

It is not needful to stay upon distinguishing 
prayer by the different matter of petitions, or 
things to be requested, which possibly some of the 
different names of prayer in Scripture do signify. 
This may suffice, that it be of such things as are 
conform to the will and promises of God, and 
desired with a suitable disposition of mind, and 
therefore I call it a pious invocation. It is the 
highest impudence to present God with unjust or 
frivolous desires.* We ought to reverence the 

^ Inquirimus quid sit virtus, non ut sciamus, sed ut boni effi- 
^ciamur. 

2 Quas scire homines nolunt Deo narrant. Sen. — " They tell 
God such things as they would not like men to know." 



54 AN EXPOSITION OF 

majesty of God, and res^ard that in our requests. 
There is a difference betwixt solemn prayer, and 
sudden ejaculations, but it is not a difference in 
their nature, but only in continuance; tbe former 
is bere meant, therefore of it I treat. Only this of the 
other; it is to be wished that it were more known, 
and more in use with Christians, for it is (no 
doubt) a very happy means of preserving the heart 
in holy temper, and constant regard of God in all 
a man's actions, and is a main point of answering 
the apostle's word, ' pray continually ;' when in 
company, and apart a man useth secret short mo- 
tions of the soul to God, that may be very fre- 
quent in the day, and night, whereas men's call- 
ings, and natural necessities, and employments 
allow them but some certain parcel of both for so- 
lemn prayer; and these frequent looks of the heart 
to heaven exceedingly sweeten and sanctify oui 
other employments, and diffuse somewhat of hea- 
ven through all our actions. Solemn prayer at fit 
times is a visiting of God, but this were a constant 
walking with him all the day long, lodging with 
him in the night, * When I awake,' says David, ' I 
am still with thee.' And these sudden dar tings of 
the soul heavenwards, may sometimes have more 
swiftness and force than larger supplications, hav- 
ing much spirit, as it were, contracted into them ; 
and they would no doubt, if used, be answered 
with frequent beams of God s countenance returned 
to the soul, as it were in exchange; for though 
whole lifetimes o prayer are not worthy the least 
of those, yet it pleases God thus to keep inter- 
course with these souls that love him, and for the ^ 
ejaculations of their desires to him, looks back on 
them ; and so they interchange as it were sudden 



THE lord's prayer. 



55 



glances of love that answer one another. The Lord 
is pleased to speak thus himself, and the souls that 
know this love, understand it, ' Thou hast ravished 
my heart, my sister, my spouse, with one of thine 
eyes/ But thouj^h such looks in ejaculation will 
refresh a soul inflamed with the love of God, yet it 
suffices not, they must have times of larger and 
more secret converse with their beloved, and par- 
ticularly in the exercise of solemn continued 
prayer ; and if cut short of it at any time, will 
miss it as much as an healthful body its accus- 
tomed repast. 

But it would seem, that though there may be 
some reason for confession and thanksgiving, yet 
that which hath most peculiarly the name oi 
prayer, petition, is superfluous. He that knows 
our wants better than ourselves, and what is fittest 
to bestow upon us, and forgets not at all, — what 
need we put him in mind, and follow him with so 
many suits ? 

This indeed is a strong reason against vain bab- 
blings in prayer, and imagining to be heard merely 
for long continuance, and multitude of words ; and 
our Saviour himself doth here use it so;^ but withal 
he shows us clearly, that it makes nothing against 
the exercise of prayer, in that he adds immediately 
upon these words, ' After this manner therefore 
pray ye.' 

Although the Lord knows well our wants, and 
doeth according to his own good pleasure, yet there 
is for prayer, I. Duty. 2. Dignity, 3. Utility, 

1. Duty. We owe this homage to God, not only 
to worship him, but particularly to offer up our 

• Matt. vi. 8. 



i 



56 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



supplications, and to acknowledg^e him our King", 
and Ruler of the whole world, and to testify our de- 
pendence upon him, as the Giver of every good 
gift; it is not because he is unwilling, and loath to 
give, ' for he gives liberally, and upbraids none 
yet says the apostle there, * If any man lack wis- 
dom, let him ask it' So of all wants, that which 
thanksgiving doth acknowledge after receipt, sup- 
plication doth beforehand ; his power, and truth, 
and goodness, &c. this is his still, the God that 
' heareth prayer,' and therefore this homage is due 
to him, ' To him shall all flesh come.' 

2. Dignity, This is the honour of the saints, 
that they are admitted to so near and frequent con- 
verse with the great God, that they do not only 
expect from him, but may so freely speak to him 
of their desires and wants, and may pour out their 
complaints into his bosom. Abraham is sensible 
of the greatness of this privilege, by reflecting upon 
the greatness of his distance. It is an unspeakable 
honour for dust and ashes, to be received into such 
familiarity with the Lord of heaven and earth. 

3. Utility. It quiets and eases the heart when it 
is troubled, to vent itself to God, as there is some 
natural ease in sighs and tears; (for otherwise na- 
ture should not have been furnished with them, 
nor teach us to use them ;) they discharge 
some part of grief, though addressed no whither, 
but only let out, more when it is in the presence 
of some entire friend ; so that they must be most of 
all easing, wlien they are directed to God in prayer/ 

' Cor serenat et purgat oratio, capaciusque efficit ad excipi- 
enda divina munera. S. Aug. — " Prayer tranquillizes and puri- 
fies the heart, and enlarges its capacity for receiving divine 
blessings." 



THE lord's PRAIER. 



57 



'Mine eye poureth forth tears unto God/ says 
Job ; and David, ' My sighing is not hid from 
thee.' ' Cast thy burden on the Lord/ says the 
Psalmist. The Lord calls for our burdens, would 
not have us wrestle with them ourselves, but roll 
them over on him. Now the desires that are 
breathed forth in prayer are, as it were, the very 
unloading of the heart; each request that goes 
forth, carries out somewhat of the burden with it, 
and lays it on God. ' Be careful in nothing/ says 
the apostle : that were a pleasant life indeed, if it 
might be; but how shall that be attained ? Why, 
this is the only way, says he, 'In all things make 
your requests known unto God :' tell him what are 
your desires, and leave them there with him, and 
so you are sure to be rid of all further disquieting 
care of them : try as many ways as you will, there 
is no other will free you in difficulties of all per- 
plexing thoughts but this, and this will do it. 

2. In it the graces of the Spirit are exercised, 
and they gain by that, as all habits do. They are 
strengthened and increased by acting faith, in be- 
lieving the promises : and that is the very basis of 
prayer; it cannot subsist without the support of 
faith. And hope is raised up and set on tip-toe, 
cLTTOKapadoiceiv y to look out for accomplishment, and 
love it, is that which delights it, to impart its 
mind to him on whom it is set, and thus to enter- 
tain convQi'se and conference with him : and all 
hours seem short to it that are thus spent; and by 
this it still rises to a higher flame, it is blown and 
stirred by prayer. The more the soul converses 
with God, doubtless the more it loves him. 

And this speaking your desires to God in prayer, 
makes the heart still more holy, invites it to enter- 



58 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



tain new desires, but such as it may confidently 
acquaint God withal. 

In relation to the particular things desired, it 
not only fits and disposes the heart for receiving" 
them as blessings, but withal it is a real means of 
obtainment, by reason of God's own appointment, 
and of his promise. He hath bound himself by 
his promises, not to disregard the prayers of his 
people : ' His ear is open to their cry,' says the 
Psalmist; and the many instances in scripture, 
and experience of the church in all ages, bear wit- 
ness to the truth of these promises. Imminent 
judgments averted, great armies conquered, and 
the very course of nature countermanded, the sun 
arrested, by the power of prayer. Moses's hands 
only held up to heaven, routed the Amalekites 
more than all the swords that were drawn against 
them/ 

The goodness of God is expressed in his pro- 
mises ; and these promises encourage prayer, and 
prayer is answered with performance, and thanks- 
giving returifs the performance in praise to God.' 
So all ends where it began, in him who is the 
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of all 
things. 

If you would be rich in all grace, be much in 
prayer. Conversing with God assimilates the soul 
to him, beautifies it with the beams of his holiness, 
as Moses's face shined when he returned from the 
Mount. It is prayer that brings all our supplies 
from heaven, (as that woman/) draws more grace 
out of God's hand, and subdues sin and the pow- 

* In Aurelius's time the legion of the Christians was called 
KEpavo^oXog^ the thuuderwg legion. 

2 Psalm L 15. ^ Pro v. xxxi. 14. 



THE lord's prayer. 



59 



ers of darkness ; it entertains and augments our 
friendship with God, raiseth the soul from earth, 
and purifies it wonderfully. Their experience, 
that have any of this kind, teacheth them, that as 
they abate in prayer, all their graces do sensibly 
weaken : therefore when the apostle hath suited a 
Christian with his whole armour, he adds this to 
all, ' pray continually ;^ for this arms the man and 
his armour both, with the strength and protection 
of God, armatura armaturae orafio. 

After this mariner. They that know any tliiavg 
of their own wants and poverty, and of the bounty 
and fulness of God, cannot doubt of the continual 
usefulness of prayer; and they that are sensible of 
their own unskilfulness, will acknowledge, that as 
prayer is necessary, so there is necessity of a direc- 
tion how to perform it. The disciples found this in 
themselves, when they said, 'Lord, teach us to pray,* 
as St. Luke hath it, where he records this prayer. 
And our Saviour here marks the errors of hypo- 
crisy and babbling in prayer that are so incident to 
men, and teacheth his disciples. After this maimer 
therefore pray ye. 

As for prescribing forms of prayer in general, to 
be bound to their continual use, in private or pub- 
, lie, is nowhere practised. Nor is there, I conceive, 
on the other side, any thing in the word of God, 
or any solid reason draw^n from the word, to con- 
demn their use. 

There is indeed that inconvenience observable in 
their much use, and leaning on them, that they 
easily turn to coldness and formality ; and yet, to 
speak the truth of this, it is rather imputable to 
our dulness, and want of affection in spiritual 
things, than to the forms of prayer that are used. 



60 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



For whereas some may account it much spiritual- 
ness to despise what the}^ have heard before, and 
to desire continual variety in prayer, it seems rather 
to be want of spiritualness that makes that needful, 
for that we find not our affections lively in that 
holy exercise, unless they be awaked and stirred by 
new expressions : whereas the soul that is earnest 
on the thing" itself for itself, panting after the grace 
of God, and the pardon of sin, regards not in what 
terms it be uttered, whether new or old ; yea, 
though it be in those words it hath heard and uttered 
a hundred times, yet still it is new to a spiritual 
mind. And sure the desires that do move in that 
constant way, have more evidence of sincerity and 
true vigour in them, than those that depend upon 
new notions and words to move them, and cannot 
stir without them. It may be it is no other but a 
false flash of temporary devotion that arises in a 
man's heart, which comes by the power of some 
moving strain of prayer that is new. But when 
confessions of sin, and requests of pardon, though 
in never so low and accustomed terms, carry his 
heart along with them heavenwards, it is then more 
sure that the Spirit of God dwelling in him, and 
the sense of the things themselves, the esteem of 
the blood of Christ, and the favour of God, do 
move the heart, when there is no novelty of words 
to help it. So then, though the Lord bestows rich 
gifts upon some of his servants, for his glory and 
the good of his church ; yet we should beware, that 
in fancying continual variety in prayer, there be 
not more of the flesh than of the spirit, and the head 
working more than the heart. It is remarkable that 
(as they that search those things observe) the words 
of this prayer are divers of them such, as come 



THE lord's prayer. 



61 



near the words of such petitions as were usual 
among the Jews, though he, in whom was all ful- 
ness and wisdom, was not scarce of matter and 
words ; so little was novelty and variety consider- 
able in prayer in his esteem. Mistake it not ; the 
spirit of prayer hath not his seat in the invention, 
but in the affection. In this many deceive them- 
selves, in that they think the work of this spirit of 
prayer to be mainly in furnishing new supplies of 
thoughts and words ; no, it is mainly in exciting 
the heart anew at times of prayer, to break forth 
itself in ardent desires to God, whatsoever the words 
be, whether new or old, yea possibly without words; 
and then most powerful when it words it least, but 
vents in sighs and groans that cannot be expressed. 
Our Lord understands the language of these per- 
fectly, and likes it best; he knows and approves the 
meaning of his own Spirit, looks not to the out- 
ward appearance, the shell of words, as men do. 

But to speak particularly of this form that is 
above all exception : it is given us as the pattern 
and model of all our prayers, and the closer they 
keep to it, the nearer they resemble it, they are the 
more appro vable. It is a wonder then how any 
can scruple the use of this prayer itself: for if other 
prayers are to be squared by it, what forbids to use 
that which is the square, and therefore the most 
perfect ? If they be good by conformity to it, itself 
must be better. The mumbling it over without 
understanding and affection, is indeed no other but 
a gross abuse of it, and taking of the name of God 
in vain ; as all other lifeless prayer is. And this is 
not only the Popish abuse of it, but too much our 
own ; for when we do not both understand, and 
attentively mind what we say, it is all one to us. 



62 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



though in our own tongue, as if with them we said 
it in an unknown lang-uao-e. It is a foolish super- 
stitious conceit, to imao-ine that the rattling- over 
these words is sufficient for prayer ;^but it is, on the 
other side, a weak groundless scruple, to doubt that 
the use of them, with spiritual affection, is both 
lawful and commendable. 

OuTcjQ, so.l It is a particle both for the matter 
and manner of prayer. 

1. The matter. This may be our rule, that 
whatsoever we cannot reduce to some part of this 
prayer, as contained under it, should be no part of 
ours. If we take not heed to this, we may abuse 
the throne of God with undue and unworthy suits, 
and ask those things that it were a punishment to 
give us : therefore Plato chose well that word, 
" Give us what is good for us, whether we ask it or 
not; and what is evil give us not, though we should 
desire it." Not to speak now particularly, we see 
in the matter of this prayer in general, that spiri- 
tual things are to be the main of all our prayers ; and 
in things temporal, not to lodge superfluous inor- 
dinate desires, but in a moderate use to seek things 
necessary. 

2. For the manner: — observe, 1. The order of 
this prayer, that the soul put itself in the sight 
of God, and him in its own sight, beginning as here 
with due thoughts of the majesty of God, to whom 
we pray ; and this is of very great consequence : 
but more of this hereafter. 2. That the glory of 
God is wholly preferred to all our own contentment 
of what kind soever, that is to be the first-born 

. and strength of all our desires, and all that we seek 
for ourselves must be in relation to that his glory, 
directed to it as our highest scope. And because 



TM/i I-ORD's prayer. 



63 



we are naturally full of self-love, and our hearts are 
carried by it towards our own interest, and there- 
fore will be ready to start aside like deceitful bows, 
and slip us in our aiming at that mark, therefore there 
be three several petitions, all of that strain, to make 
them steady and fixed towards it, to desire in all 
things, and above all things, that our God may be 
glorified. 

3. Brevity, opposed to that babbling which our 
Saviour reproves and particularly corrects by this 
form ; that fault he lays on the heathen, not upon 
the Jews, for they blamed it too, and their doctors 
spake against it, alleging that place that is very per- 
tinent,' where Solomon argues from our exceeding 
distance and the greatness of God, because men use 
not to entertain great persons with long empty dis- 
courses. Know then before whom thou art in 
prayer, and have so much respect to the majesty of 
God, as not to multiply idle repetitions, such as 
wise men cannot well endure, how much less the 
all- wise God. BarroXoyia and iroXvXoyLa are here 
put as one, because the one is the consequent of the 
other; where there is much speaking, there will be 
vain speaking and empty repetitions.^ ' In a multi- 
tude of words there wanteth not sin,' says Solo- 
mon ; and we see it, that they who lay a necessity 
upon themselves of a long continuance and many 
words in prayer, as if it were otherwise no prayer 
at all, fall into this inconvenience of idle re- 
peating; and this is most unbeseeming our ac- 
cess to the majesty of God, as if there were some 
defect either in his knowledge, or in his attention^ 
or affection to those that seek him. Therefore, 
» Eccl. V. 2. 

* Xwpit '^^3 T f iVetj^ TToWd, Koi rbp Kaipia* — Soph, 



64 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



til o Ugh this was the common fault of the heathen, 
yet some even of them had so much discerning as 
to condemn this folly, and inveigh against it/ ac- 
knowledging both the wisdom of God, and his love 
to mankind, and that he understands far better 
what is fit for us than we ourselves, and therefore 
was not to be dishonoured with idle tediousness in 
prayer. 

But is then all length and much continuance in 
prayer, and all redoubling of the same request re- 
provable ? Surely no. Were there nothing else to 
persuade us of this, our Saviours own practice 
were sufficient, who prescribed this rule, and yet is 
found to have spent whole nights in prayer, and to 
have iterated the same request ; and doubtless 
(which can be said of no other) his example is as 
perfect a rule as his doctrine. 

This then briefly is the fault here, when the long 
continuance, and much repetition in prayer is 
affected as a thing of itself available, when heaping 
on words, and beating often over the same words, 
though the heart bear them not company, is judged 
to be prayer ; and generally whensoever the tongue 
outruns the affection, then is prayer turned into 
babbling. Yea, though a man use this very short 
form here prescribed, yet he may commit this very 
fault against which it was provided, he may babble 
in saying it; and it is to be feared the greatest 
part do so. Men judge (and that rightly) a speech 
^ to be long or short, not so much by the quantity of 
words, as by the sense ; so that a very short speech 
that is empty of sense may be called long, and a 
long one that is full, and hath nothing impertinent, 

^ Paucis verbis rem divinam facito. Plaut. — Few be thy 
lyords in transacting with a god." 



THE lord's prayer. 



66 



is truly sliort.^ Thus, as men judge by the sense 
of speech, God judgeth by the affection of prayer : 
that is the true sense of it, so the quality is the 
rule of the quantity with him. There is no prayer 
too long to him, provided it be all enlivened with 
affection ; no idle repetition where the heart says 
every word over again as often and more often than 
the tongue. Therefore those repetitions in the 
Psalms ; * Lord hear,, Lord incline thine ear, Lord 
attend,' &c. were not idle on this account; God's 
own Spirit did dictate them : there was not one of 
them empty, but came from the heart of the holy 
penmen, full fraught with the vehemency of their 
affections. And it is reported of St. Augustin, that he 
prayed over for a whole night, ' Let me know thee, 
O Lord ; let me know myself!'^ Because his heart 
still followed the suit, all of it was prayer. So that, 
in truth, where the matter is new, and the w^ords 
still diverse, and very rich in sense, yet walh God 
it may be idle multiplying of words, because the 
heart stays behind ; and where the same words are 
repeated, that a man seems poor and mean in the 
gift of prayer to others, yet if it be not defect of 
affection, but abundance of it (as it may be) that 
moves often the same request, it is not empty, but 
full of that sense that the searcher of hearts alone 
can read. I had rather share with that publican 
in his own words, and say it often over, as if I had 
nothing else to say, ' God be merciful to me a 

1 Absit ut multiloquium deputes, quando necessaria dicun- 
tur, quantalibet sermonum multitudine ac prolixitate dicantur. 
Brevitas est etiam in loiigissima oratione, cm nihil inest alieni. 
— 1 am far from regarding that as much speaking, where only- 
things necessary are uttered, though expressed in never so great 
a number and length of words. The longest prayer is short, if 
it have nothing in it foreign to the proper design of prayer.'* 

2 Noverim te, Domine, noverim me. 

F 



66 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



sinner/ saying it with such a heart, than the most 
excellent prayer where the outside is the better half. 

So then this is the mistake of men, to think to 
make words pass for prayer with God, and to make 
up what is wanting inwardly, with multitude of 
words and long continuance; a foolish compensa- 
tion, that will no way satisfy him that says, above 
all, * My son, give me thy heart ;' and no length 
nor words can supply the want of that with him. 
Yet many do thus : they give large measure of that 
which is altogether worth nothing; as the orator 
said of those that make a poor speech pass for 
something, with crying it out with a loud voice, 
" that they were like to those cripples that got 
a horseback to hide their halting." It is thus here, 
and the church of Rome hath it for their common 
shift; they have shut the heart out of this em- 
ployment, where it hath most interest, by praying 
in an unknown tongue ; and this defect they make 
up with long continuance, and repetition of Pater- 
nosters, v/ith a devotion as cold and dead as the 
beads they drop. And so they with their brevi- 
aries, notwithstanding of their name, fall directly 
into this foolish heathenish vanity of idle length 
and repetitions. 

Thus do we too, though we speak our own known 
language, when either in secret or in public we 
suffer our hearts to rove in prayer, and hear not 
ourselves what we are praying; how then can we 
expect that God should hear us ? 

If the affection can be brought to continue in it, 
prayer in secret cannot be too long : but let us not 
think it virtue enough that it is long, let it rather 
be brief with strong bent of mind, than long with- 
out it;^ as a small body strong and full of spirits, 

* Non est (ut quidam putant) orare in multiloquio, si diutius 



THE LORD*S PRAYER. 



67 



is much better than the greatest bulk that is dull 
and spiritless. And when we pray in company, 
because men cannot know the temper of other men's 
hearts, usually a convenient mids betwixt extremes, 
viz. briefness and length, seems most suitable. 

But, alas ! how few be there that keep constant 
watch over their affections in prayer, and endea- 
vour to keep the heart bent to it throughout ? O I 
How much sin is committed by us this way that we 
observe not ? 

This is a great lesson, and requires still our dili- 
gence, even all our lifetime, to learn it better and 
better, how to pray. 

We have here indeed a complete copy, but we 
cannot follow it; he that set it us must put his 
Spirit within us, to lead our hand and heart that 
we may follow it, as he here shows, how we should 
pray. We are not born with this art, Jimus ora- 
tores; and I may add the other word, true of us, in 
regard of our vanity of mind, and the devices that 
arise in it, nascimur poefce, Omnis Jictio cordis, 
&c.^ We must have that Spirit of his, the Spirit 
of prayer, to teach us effectually, and make us 
learn this divine art of prayer, according to his 
rules. Although we are thus externally taught by 
our Saviour's doctrine, yet unless we be taught 
within by the Spirit, we are never the nearer, we 
know neither what to ask, nor how to ask ; but 
that is a happy supply, and they may rejoice in it 
that have it, the Spirit of God helping their infir- 

oretur : aliud est sermo multus, aliud diuturnus affectus. Absit 
multa loquutio, sed non desit multa precatio. Aug. — " To 
pray long is not, as some suppose, that, much speaking which is a 
fault. Abundance of words is one thing* ; long-continued affec- 
tion, another. Away be much talking, but not much praying." 
1 Gen. vi. 5 ; Eccl. vii. 29. 

F 2 



68 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



mities, and making intercession for them : how 
should they but speed in their suits with God, that 
have both his own Spirit interceding, by framing 
and inditing their petitions, and his own Son in- 
terceding at his right hand by his merits ? 

Our Father.'] ' He that follows me/ says our 
Saviour, ' shall not walk in darkness.' It is our 
safest in all our ways to be led by him, particu- 
larly in our access to the Father by prayer. He ^ 
leads us in by his intercession ; through him we 
have kiGayoyyriv , access, or rather adduction; betakes 
ns by the hand to bring us to the throne of grace, 
gives us his Spirit to frame our minds, and teach 
us with what disposition to pray. Here he leads 
us, by putting words in our mouths, and furnishing 
us what to say. 

1. The preface or compellation. 

2. The petitions. 

3. The conclusion. 

1. By the preface we are in general taught this, 
(ere we consider particularly the words of it;) 
1. To endeavour to have right thoughts and ap- 
prehensions of God, on whom we call. 2. At our 
entry or beginning to pray, to set ourselves before 
him, and him before our own sight, to have the 
eye of our mind set on that Deity we worship. 
This would do much to the curing that common 
disease of our prayers, the v/andering and roving of 
our minds ; an evil that they cannot but be sensi- 
ble of, and often bewail, that take any notice of 
their own inward carriage with God, that trace 
their own hearts, and ask account of their beha- 
viour in prayer.^ O! light inconstant hearts! 

^ Nihil est in nobis corde fugacius. Greg. — ^' Of all things 
us, our hearts are the most volatile." 



THE lord's prayer. 



69 



(may they say) as the Latin reads tliat, Psalm xL 12. 

My heart hath forsaken me !" How many regard 
them not at all ? But they that do, find it their 
ordinary trick to give them the slip. And this is one 
great cause of our wanderings, that we do not, at our 
entrance to prayer, compose ourselves to due thoughts 
of God, and to set ourselves in his presence ; this 
would do much to awe us, and ballast our minds, 
that they tumble not to and fro, as is their custom. 
There be not many that do ; but it would prove no 
doubt much help, would we task ourselves to this, 
never to open our mouths to God, till the eye of 
our soul were fixed upon him, and taken up with 
considering of hi^ presence. But of this more 
when we come to these words, ' who art in heaven* 

Our Father, which art in heaven."] Our Father ; 
the mercy of God is in this, to beget in us the con- 
fidence of faith : in the other, which art in heaven ; 
the majesty of God to work us to reverence. Though 
there is somewhat in the word Father likewise to 
persuade reverence, and something in the other 
that confirms faith ; but more of this hereafter : 
yet if we take that which appears most, and is pre- 
dominant, the former mainly supports faith, and 
the latter begets humility. 

The frame of it is extensive ; not my Father, but 
our Father, and so throughout ; besides that it was 
a pattern both for public and private prayer, and 
so it was fittest to run in the larger and public 
style. It doth no doubt (as all have taken it) 
teach the charitable extension of our prayers, where 
they are most private, to take in with our own the 
good of others, and when we are busiest and most 



Cor meum dereliquit me. 



70 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



particularly dealing" for ourselves, yet not to shut 
out our brethren. Let the place and performance 
of secret prayer be as private as may be, but the 
strain and suits public, as well as personal. The 
privatest prayer of the godly is a public good, and 
he loses nothing by that; for, besides that his par- 
ticular is not hindered by taking in others, he hath 
this gain, that by the same reason he likewise hath 
a share in all the prayers of others. And this 
(though little considered by the most) is one point, 
and not a small one, but a very profitable and com- 
fortable point of that article of our faith, the coin- 
munion of saints, that every believer hath a share 
in all the prayers of all the reet; he is partner in 
every ship of that kind that sets to sea, and hath a 
portion of all their gainful voyages 

But he that in prayer minds none but himself, 
doubtless he is not right in minding himself; how- 
soever this he may be sure of, that in keeping out 
others from his prayers, he bars himself from the 
benefit of all others prayers likewise.^ So that 
self-love itself m,'iy here plead for love to our 
brethren. Forget not the church of God, and to 
seek the g'ood of Zion ; it is not only your duty, 
but your benefit. Are you not all concerned in 
it ? If indeed you be parts of that mystical body : 
and it hinders not at ail, but rather advances your 
personal suits at God's hands, when he sees your 
love to your brethren, and desires for the church's 
good. Let not therefore any estate, no private 
perplexity or distress, nor very sorrow for sin, take 
you so up, as to be all for yourselves ; let others, 

^ Si pro te solo oras, pro te solus oras. S. Ambr. — " If thou 
pray for thyself only, thou only pray est for thee." 



THE lord's prayer. 



71 



but especially the public condition of the church of 
God, find room with you. We find it thus with 
David, when he was lamenting his own case. 
Psalm li. and Psalm xxv. 22, and elsewhere ; yet 
he forgets not the church: 'In thy good pleasure 
do good to Zion, and build up the walls of Jeru- 
salem/ So then let this be the constant tenor of 
your prayers, even in secret. When thou prayest 
alone, 'shut thy door,' says our Saviour here; 
shut out as much as thou canst the sight and no- 
tice of others ; but shut not out the interest and 
good of others, say our Father, as the heathen call 
their God, Zev Jlarepy &c. 

Father,'] He is indeed our Father,^ as the au- 
thor of our being, beyond all the visible creatures ; 
he breathed upon man the breath of life. But the 
privilege of this our natural relation, the sin of 
our nature hath made fruitless and comfortless to 
us, till we be restored by grace, and made par- 
takers of a new sonship : we are indeed the work- 
manship of God, but being defaced by sin, and 
considered in that estate, our name is ' children of 
wrath.' 

But the sonship that emboldens us to draw near 
unto God as our Father, is derived from his only 
begotten Son. He became the son of man, to 
make us anew the sons of God. Being thus re- 
stored, we may indeed look back upon our crea- 
tion, and draw out of it to use in prayer with God, 
that we are his creatures, the workmanship of his 
hands, and he in that sense our Father, But by 
reason of our rebellion, this argument is not strong 
enough alone, but must be supported with this 

* Tov ydp Kal yivoQ efffjikv. Acts, xvii. 28. 



72 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



other, as the main ground of our comfort, that 

wherein the strength of our confidence lies, that he 
is our Father in his Son Christ; that by faith we 
are invested into a new sonship, and ]iy virtue of 
that may call him Father, and move bim by that 
name to help and answer us. ' To t^s many as 
received him, he gave power to become the sons of 
God.'^ Our adoption holds in Jesus Christ as the 
head of this fraternity ; therefore he feays, ' I go to 
my Father, and your Father; to my God, and your 
God.' He says not, to our Father and our God, 
but severally, mine and yours ; leaching us the 
order of the new covenant, tha»t the sonship of 
Jesus Christ is not only more eminent in nature, 
but in order, is the spring and cause of ours, as 
St. Cyril well observes.^ So then he that here 
puts this word in our mouths, to call God Father, 
he it is by whom we have this dignity and comfort 
that we call him so. 

But this adoption is accompanied (that we think 
it not a naked external name) with a real change, 
and so great a change, that it bears the name of 
that which is the real ground of sonship — it is called 
regeneration. And these are inseparable : there be 
no sons of God by adoption, but such as are withal 
his sons by regeneration and new birth : there is a 
new life breathed into them from God ; he is not 
only the Father of Spirits, by their first infusion 
into the body, and enlivening it by them, but by 
this new infusion of grace into the souls of men 
(as it seems to signify there,^ where he is speaking 
of spiritual sons) and enlivening them by it, which 
were dead without it, as the body is without them; 



* John, i. 12. 2 (>yj.iii^ Hieros. Catech. * ^ Heb.xii. 9. 



THE lord's prayer. 



73 



and the Spirit of God renewing them, is the Spirit 
of adoption, by which they cry, Abba Father.' He 
gives them a supernatural life by this Spirit sent 
into their hearts; and the Spirit, by that regenera- 
tion which he works, ascertains them of that adop- 
tion which is in Christ Jesus, and in the persuasion 
of both they call upon God as their Father. 

So then you that would have this confidence m 
approaching to God to call him Father, lay hold on 
Jesus Christ as the fountain of sonship ; offer not 
to come unto God, but through him, and rest not 
satisfied with yourselves, nor your prayers, till you 
find some evidence that you are in him. And 
know that there is no evidence of vour portion in 
the Son, but by the Spirit; therefore called the 
' Spirit of the Son, by which we call God Father.'^ 
See whether the Spirit of God dwells and rules in 
your hearts ; for ' they that have not the Spirit ot' 
Christ are none of his,' says the apostle ; but in the 
same chapter he assures you, that as ' many as are 
led by the Spirit of God, they are undoubtedly the 
sons of God/ 

If you then call on the name of God, and par- 
ticularly by this name^ your Father, depart from 
iniquity ; be ashamed to pretend to be his sons, 
and yet be so unlike him, wallowing in sin. It 
cannot be that the sons of so holy a God, can be 
altogether unholy, and delight to be so ; no, though 
they cannot be perfectly free from impurity, yet 
they that are indeed his children, do certainly hate 
impurity, because he hates it. 

Do you draw near unto God in his Son Christ? 
Do you give yourselves up to be led by his Spirit ? 



Gal. iv. 6. 



74 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



then you may account,,and call him your Father; 
and if you may use this word, there is abundance 
of sweetness in it ; it is a spring of comfort that 
cannot run dry, and it hath influence into all the 
petitions ; as likewise the other word, which art in 
heaven; thou that art so great and so good." Whose 
name and whose kingdom should we desire to be 
advanced so much as our own Fathers, our hea- 
venly Father ! and his will to be obeyed on earth, 
as it is in heaven ? Of whom should we seek our 
daily bread, but of our Father ? and especially so 
rich a Father, possessor of heaven and earth ; and 
forgiveness of our gracious Father, and conduct, 
and protection. In the hardest condition that can 
befal you, ye may come to your Father; all the 
world cannot bar your access : and there is no 
child may go to his father with any suit with more 
confidence, than you may to your Father. And if 
there be mercy and power enough in God, thou 
canst not miss of help ; he hath the bowels of a fa- 
ther;^ yea, says our Saviour, 'Can you that are 
evil give your children good things, how much 
more will your heavenly Father ?^ &c. The love of 
parents to their children they have from him ; he 
hath given it to nature, so it is but a drop to the 
ocean of fatherly love that is in himself.^ Let not 
then unworthiness scare his children; parents love 
their children and do them good, not because 
they see they are more worthy than others, for it 

^ Psalm ciii. 13. 

^ Ante petitionem magnum accepimus, ut possimus dicere, 
pater : quid enim jam non det filiis petentibus pater, qui jam 
hoc ipsum dedit ut essent filii ? S. Aug. — " Before we come 
to any petition, we have received this great blessing, to be per- 
mitted to say, Father ! For what will not God confer upon his 
praying children, when he has granted them to be children ?" 



THE lord's prayer. 



75 



may be far otherwise, but because they are their 
own. 

Yea, though we have run astray from him, and 
forgot very far the duty of children, yet he cannot 
forget the love of a Father; and our best is to return 
to him, it cannot be well with us so long as we go 
any w liitlier else. The prodigal found it so, and 
therefore though he was convinced of that, that he 
was unworthy to be called his son, yet he resolves 
to return, ^ I will go to my father.' Yea, though 
to thy sense he should seem to reject thee, yet let 
not go this hold, if thou hast but a desire to believe 
in him and love him, though thou canst find no 
more, and even while thou doubtest whether he is 
thy Father or no, yet press him with the name, call 
him Father, speak to him as thy Father ; Jesus his 
Son, in whom he is well pleased, doth warrant thee. 
' Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,' says 
Job : so resolve thou, though thou sawest his hand, 
as it were, ready to throw thee into hell, yet cry to 
him still, and use this very name, Father reject 
me not 1" Never any perished with such a purpose 

Who art in heaven,'] ^ Serve the Lord with fear, 
and rejoice with trembling.' This compellation 
taken together, and rightly understood, works that 
due temper of prayer, the mixture of these two, joy 
and fear, confidence and reverence. There was 
some such thing spoke of Augustus, but it is most 
true of the divine majesty, that they that dare speak 
rashly to him, know not his greatness ; and they 
that dare not speak to him, (provided it be with 
due reverence and respect,) know not his good- 
ness. 

That we all invocate one Father, teaches thai new 
law of love one to another^ which our Saviour, the 



■^6 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



author of this prayer, so often recommends, and 
makes the very badge of his disciples. It serves 
to comfort the meanest, and to abate the loftiness 
of the g-reatest that pray thus, as St. Augustine 
well observes, that they all meet and agree in this ; 
the greatest kings, and their meanest subjects, all 
must speak to God as their Father, not only all 
alike having their being from him as the Father of 
the spirits of all flesh, but the same adoption be- 
longing unto all, high and low, that are believers. 
All the pomp, and command, and pleasures of 
princes, cannot make them happy without this 
grace of adoption ; and no outward baseness pre- 
judges any, but they may be happy by partaking 
of it. In this likewise is very clear our lesson of 
love to God, because our Father ; for though (as 
they say) love doth descend much more than it as- 
cends, and is here most of all verified, yet it doth 
ascend from the children to their parents by way 
of reflection, especially from the sons of God to him 
as a Father, who is love itself. And as this name 
draws the soul to the throne of grace with assured 
expectation of mercy, so it commands withal (as 
we said) honour and reverence, especially being 
accompanied with this other word that mainly 'en- 
forces that (6 ev toIq Hpavdlg) 'in the heavens,' an- 
swering the Hebrew word, which is plural, and sig- 
nifying that the glorious God is above all the visi- 
ble heavens; and thus the profane authors speak of 
God likewise, vTripTara Swjuara vaiwv. 

We know, although we are guilty of much for- 
getting it, that the Lord is every where present, 
neither excluded nor included any where ; that he 
fills all places, not as contained in them, but con- 
taining them, and upholding them, and all things 



THE lord's prayer. 



77 



in them : but be is in beaven after a special man- 
ner, in the brightest manifestation of himself, and 
the purest service performed to him there. They 
cannot contain him, as Solomon expresses it;^ yet 
his throne is there, there he dwells, as in his prin- 
cipal palace, in greatest majesty, as David teacheth 
us. Psalm xi. 4, and often elsewhere. But that he 
is not shut up there, and regardless of things be- 
low, we learn in that same place; for he adds, 
' His eyes behold, and his eye-lids try the children 
of men.' 

This is added, 1. For distinction ; as the apostle 
differencing him from the fathers of our flesh, calls 
him * the Father of spirits so here, from earthly 
fathers, ' our heavenly Father.' 

Observe. We cannot here know God according 
to what he is in himself, and therefore he is de- 
scribed to our capacity, and to our profit, so as w^e 
are able, and as it most concerns us to know him 
here, by his gracious relation to us as our Father, 
and by the excellency of his dwelling, as a sign of 
his greatness, that he is in heaven, both which are 
extrinsical to his essence. But thus we may learn 
thus much to worship and love him as the best and 
greatest, infinitely exceeding all that we can con- 
ceive of him. 

2. As it is for distinction, so it is such a word of 
difference as is of excellent use. 

1. To make the soul humble and reverent in ap- 
proaching to God in prayer, if we consider it; will 
we not be wary how we behave ourselves in the 
presence of so great a King ? It is very strange 
that our souls should not be possessed with the 



* 1 Kings, viii. 27 



78 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



deepest lowliness and self-abasement in the si^ht 
of God ; worms in the dust, before the Majesty that 
dwells in heaven. This Solomon expresses, ' He 
is in heaven, and thou on earth, therefore let thy 
words be few. What is this we find in ourselves 
that makes us so drunk with self-conceit, not only 
in converse one with another, but with God ? Surely 
we know him not, at least we consider not who he 
is, and where he dwells, and who we are, and 
where we dwell. Surely it would lay us low, if, 
when we come before God, we would consider him 
as the most glorious King, sitting on his throne, 
and compassed with glorious spirits, that offer him 
spotless praises; and we ourselves coming before 
him, as base frogs creeping out of our pond, where 
we dwell amidst the mire of sinful pollutions. 

Thus indeed his highness should humble us in 
coming, but it should not affright us from coming 
before him ; for though he is in heaven, and we on 
earth, yet he is our Father. Thus ought we to join 
these two, and behold them jointly; that we may 
have that right posture of mind by them that suits 
with prayer, humble boldness. 

There may be undue distrust, but there cannot 
be too much humility of spirit in prayer. The more * 
humble, the fitter to come to God: and he the more 
willing to come into the soul, and dwell in it; for 
that is the other house that he hath chosen. They 
seem very ill suited together; if the highest hea- 
vens be the Lord's one dwelling, it would seem fit 
that the other should be the richest palaces on 
earth, or stately built temples. No, the other is 
such a one as we most despise, but God prefers 
before other, even the most sumptuous building : 
* Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth 



THE lord's prayer. 



79 



eternity, whose name is holy ; I dwell in the high 
and holy place, with him also (a strange also!) that 
is of a broken and humble spirit/' &c. The highest 
heavens are the habitation of his glory, and the 
humble heart hath the next honour to be the habi- 
tation of his grace. 

2. As this word humbles the soul in God s sight, 
so it elevates it to heaven where God dwells, and 
fixes it there in prayer ; and this elevation is not 
contrary to humility : the soul that is laid lowest 
in itself, is most sublime in converse with God.^ 
And thus ought our hearts to ascend in prayer, 
which, alas, we usually suffer to lag and draw the 
wing heavily on the earth. * Unto thee, O Lord,' says 
the Psalmist, 'do I lift up my soul;'^ that is the 
right and natural motion of prayer. But there is 
another lifting up, that our souls are better ac- 
quainted with, which is spoken of in the Psalm im- 
mediately foregoing, that 'lifting up of the soul 
unto vanity ;* and the more so lift up, the further 
off from God. O the vainness of our hearts! and 
how hard is it to establish them on him that dwells 
on high ! Even while we are speaking to him, we 
suffer them to break loose and rove, and to enter- 
tain foolish thoughts: we would not use a king or 
great person so, nor any man whom we respect, 
when we are speaking to him seriously, to intermix 
impertinencies, and forget what we are saying: 
but we dare offer gross nonsense to the all-wise 
God ; though the words go on in good sense, yet 
the prayer is so to him, when the heart intermixes 
vain thought . Polum terrce miscei^ confuses and 

^ Isa. Ivii. 15. 

* Sublimiter humilis et humiliter sublimis. — S. Cypr 
Psalm XXV. Mingling heaven with earth.'* 



80 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



spoils all. And this is the great task, (as we have 
said,) to bring the heart before God, to set it on his 
holy mountain in heaven, while we pray, (it should 
be so certainly,) and leave servile earthly thoughts 
at the foot of the mount. 

3. It gives confidence. 1. of the power of God, 
his rich ability to grant all our requests. He, that 
Lord of all, and as greatest possessor, hath his 
throne in the highest heavens, and doth what 
pleaseth him in heaven and in earth ; this, with the 
other, completes our comfort: good-tvill and power, 
our Father in heaven. And this we may apply to 
all our wants for assurance of supply, and to all 
our enemies, and the church's enemies, that our 
prayer shall be heard for their foil and disappoint- 
ment. * He sits in heaven and laughs.'' * They 
rage, and tumult, and consult,^ &c. A great bustle 
and noise they keep, and he sits and laughs at 
them ; he scorns all their proud attempts : for that 
with ease he can scatter them in a moment ; one 
word of his mouth overturns them and all their 
contrivances. 

2. It is a confirmation of our portion in heaven. 
If he, who is in heaven, be our Father, then our in- 
heritance lies there, in that land of peace where it 
cannot be lost or impaired, and he will bring his 
children to the possession of it. To be the sons of 
God is not a style without an estate, an empty 
title ; no, he that makes us sons, makes us heirs 
likewise, ' Sons we are in Christ,* and ' co-heirs 
with Christ.' He came down to earth for this pur- 
pose, to make a new purchase of heaven for us, and 
he is returned thither to prepare it for us. ' I go 



' Psalm ii. 



thIe lord's prayer. 



81 



to prepare a place for you, that where I am, ye 
may be also.' 

Hallowed he thy name.'] The sense of many 
wants and necessities drives a Christian daily to 
God in prayer, yet certainly that which draws him 
most strongly to it, is of a higher nature. The 
sense of his duty to God, and the delight he hath 
to do that homage and honour to him ; and there- 
fore in prayer the main current of his heart runs 
that way, and so agrees with this pattern given us 
by our Saviour : wherein we see clearly that our 
prime desires are to be bestowed on the glory of 
God, and that not only placed first, as to be pre- 
ferred before all other suits, but to be regarded still 
in ail the rest, and they all referred to it. And to 
make the impression of this desire the deeper on our 
hearts, and to give the fuller vent of it in expression 
to them that have it, there are, you see, three of 
these six petitions spent on it ; this is the first of 
them, Hallowed be thy name. This suits well with 
the style here given to God, Our Father, *If 1 be 
a Father, where is my honour ?' says the Lord by 
his prophet. And here his children are taught to 
join these two together. Thou art our Father, and 
so glorious a Father dwelling in heaven ; therefore 
our desire is, that thou mayst have honour, that 
thy name may be hallowed, and thy kingdom 
come. We will incjuire, 

1. What is meant by his name. 2. What is 
the hallowing or sanctifying it. 3. What the pe- 
tition itself is. 

Briefly, his name is himself, as he is made known 
to us, and conceivable by us, and differenced from 
all other beings, as men are by their names one. 
from another; for to this purpose are all those se* 

G 



82 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



veral names and attributes given him that we find 
in Scripture, that we may so conceive of himself as 
here we are capable. 

2. To sanctify his name (we know) cannot be to 
infuse holiness into it, or effectually to make it 
holy ; for neither can we so make any thing holy, 
nor can the name of God be so made holy, for it is 
most holy of itself, yea, he is holiness itself, and 
the fountain of all holiness ; but according to the 
double sense of the word blessing, as mutual be- 
twixt God and man, so is this of sanctifying. 
* Blessed be the God/ says the apostle, ' and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed 
us with all spiritual blessings/^ His henedicere is 
henefacere ; he blesseth us really, as the giver of all 
blessings, and of blessedness itself; and our bless- 
ing him is no other, but the acknowledging of this, 
that it is he that blesseth us, and praising him for 
it. Thus he sanctifies us, makes us holy, purifies us 
by his Spirit from our natural unholiness and filthi- 
ness, according to his promise,^ and according to 
our Saviour's prayer,^ and we sanctify the Lord 
and his name, (as here, and Isaiah, viii. 13,) when 
we know and acknowledge that he is holy, and use 
his name holily ; and thus ihey only sanctify, who 
affectionately pray thus, that his name may be 
sanctified, whose hearts he hath first sanctified and 
made them holy. 

More particularly and distinctly, the sanctifying 
of God's name hath in it these chings. 1. To have 
right thoughts of the holiness and majesty of God. 
2. That upon so conceiving of him, our hearts be 
reverently affected towards him. 3. Not only to 



^ Eph. i. 3. 5 Ezek. xxxvi. 25. 

John, xvii. 17. 



THE lord's prayer. 



83 



have that due apprehension and reverence of his 
holiness in the habit, and so let it lie dead within 
us, but often to stir up ourselves to the remem- 
brance and consideration of it, to call in our thous^hts 
to act about it ; so this will increase our knowledge 
and reverence, (as ail habits grow by acting,) and 
will excite the soul to praise him, as the Psalmist 
speaks, ' Give thanks at the remembrance of his 
holiness/ 4. The declaring and extoilmg of his 
holiness, speaking upon all seasonable occasions 
honourably of his name. 5. The humble sense and 
acknowledgment of our own unholiness in his pre- 
sence; and therefore all these lowly confessions of 
sins and of their own unworthiness, that we lind in 
the prayers of the prophets, are so many hallowings 
of the name of God, giving the glory of holiness to 
him alone, and taking with the shame of their own 
pollutions, thus Dan. ix. Tsa. Ixiv. &:c. As some of 
the Americans have a custom, when they appear 
before their king, to put on their w^orst apparel, 
that all the magnificence may rest upon him alone, 
and appear the better. Thus, though the majesty 
of God, in itself being infinite, needs nothing else 
to commend it, yet to our apprehension of it, it 
may be thus ; and the saints in desire of his glory 
may intend this, to set off the lustre of his purity 
and excellency, in the humble confessions of their 
own vileness : ' To thee, O Lord, belongeth righ- 
teousness, but to us confusion of face.^ 6. The 
hallowing of God's name is an earnest endeavour of 
conformity with him in holiness ; first in heart, that 
must be the principal seat of it, and then holiness 
in all our words and actions, and the whole course 
®f our lives. This is that which the Lord per- 
petually presses upon his people, * Be ye holy, for 

G 2 



# 



84 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



I am holy and this is the most effectual sancti- 
fying of his name by way of declaring it holy, 
when his people walk in holiness. Though you 
tell the world, that he is holy, they know him not, 
they can neither see him nor his holiness ; but 
when they see that there are men taken out of the 
same lump of polluted nature with themselves, and 
yet so renewed and changed, that they hate the de- 
filements of the world, and do indeed live holily in 
the midst of a perverse generation ; this may con- 
vince them that there is a brighter spring of holi- 
ness where it is in fulness, from whence these 
drops are that they perceive in men ; for seeing it 
is not in nature, there must be another principle of 
it, and that can be no other but this holy God; 
thus is his name hallowed, and he known to be 
holy by the holiness of his people. So then the 
petition takes in all, and in it we desire the sancti- 
fying and magnifying of God's name in every pos- 
sible way. 1. By ourselves, that we may mind his 
glory, and by his grace sanctify his name. 2. By 
others, that our Lord may be more known and ho- 
noured in the world ; they would gladly have 
many hearts and many tongues brought in to con- 
fess the Lord, and his holiness and greatness. 
Thus the Psalmist stirs up the angels to bless the 
Lord,^ not that they need exciting, but to show his 
own affection to God's praises. 3. And because 
there is still some alloy and mixture of unholiness, 
in all the hallowing of his name here below, all our 
services stained ; therefore, as the godly do in this 
request, wish all the exalting and sanctifying oi 
Gods name among men, that is attainable here, so, 
I conceive, they do as it were applaud to thos% 



* Psalm, ciii. 



THE lord's prayer. 



85 



purer services and praises that are given nim 
above ; and sensible how far they fall short them- 
selves, they are glad to think that there be such mul- 
titudes of angels and glorified spirits, hallowing and 
praising his name better and more constantly ; not 
ceasing day nor night to cry, 'Holy, holy, holy. 
Lord God Almighty.' And here they follow as 
they can, and give their acclamation, though in a 
lower key, yet as loud as they are able, 'Even so. 
Lord, hallowed be thy name.' Now the cause and 
source of this their great desire of exalting and hal- 
lowing the name of God, is their love to him, 
which the sight that he hath given them of his 
excellency hath kindled in their hearts. 

After that, their chief delight is to think of him, 
and speak of his name; gladly would they have 
him highly esteemed by all, and this is their grief, 
that they can find so few to bear them company 
and help them in this, in hallowing and extolling 
his name, which is so deep engraven on their hearts. 
See how pathetically the Psalmist repeats that 
again and again, ' O that men would praise the 
Lord for his goodness, and his wonderful works to 
the children of men ! ' ^ And when they hear or see 
any thing tending to the dishonour of his name, 
this wounds them, and pierces them through as a 
sv\ord, as the Psalmist speaks. They are far from 
envy or evil eye; yea, they rejoice in the gifts and 
tiraces that God bestows upon others, although it 
be beyond what they have themselves ; tor still it 
serves their desires, and answers w hat they are 
most earnest in ; it tends to the hallowing and glo- 
rifying of the name of God. And what they have 



^ Psalm cvii. 



86 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



themselves, they are not in clanger to grow vain 
upon it ; rather they wonder at the free grace of 
God, and extol that, and think with themselves, 

What am I, that he should have had compassion 
on me, and plucked me out of the crowd of the lost 
world, and given me any desire to hallow his name, 
while others are blaspheming it, and delighting 
to dishonour it ?" but ever the more they receive 
from God, they are the more humble, the more 
desirous of his praise, and regardless of their own. 
Any holiness that is in them they know well is 
from him, and therefore all the glory of holiness 
must return thither, from whence holiness origi- 
nally comes; and the very end for which they de- 
sire increase of holiness in themselves, is to the 
end that they may the more hallow his name, from 
whom they have it ; and by the increase of their 
stock, there may be an increase of tlie tribute of 
praise to God. 

But, alas ! how far are we from this mind ! 
What hypocrisy is it, for the same mouth to utter 
this request, that dare profane the name of God by 
vain swearing I That which is holy, as the He- 
brew word imports, is separated from common use, 
(although it w^as not holy before,) and ought not 
to be profaned ; least of all this name, that is not 
made holy by such a separation, but is primitively 
holy in itself ; and they that use it rashly and un- 
holUy, are deeply guilty of despising the majesty 
of God. It is not possible that any that is truly 
sensible of his greatness and holiness, can cus- 
tomarily abuse his name, that blessed name that 
he hopes to bless for ever. You say, it is your 
custom ; it is a wonder to hear men speak thus as 
an excuse, it is the deepest accusation. Are not 



THE lord's prayer. 



87 



men known by their customs ? Do not those dis- 
cover what they are ? It is your custom : what 
gain you by that? You must confess it is such a 
one as is the custom of the children of Satan, the 
professed enemy of God's name; as the delight and 
custom of hallowing his name is the badge of his 
children. 2. It is your custom : then know, it is 
his custom not to acquit them, but make them feel 
the weight of his punishing hand, that dare make 
it a custom to dishonour his name. Again, they 
that profane his holy day, they that sanctify not 
his name by calling on it daily in private, and 
generally all that by an unsanctified life do blot 
the profession of Christians, what do they mean to 
lie so grossly, not unto men but unto God, to 
his face, in praying thus ? As if they desired the 
hallowing of his name by all, and yet do nothing 
but unhallow it themselves. Think it not suffi- 
cient to the hallowing of his name, that his house 
and worship is purged of abuses: though they be 
holy, yet unless we ourselves be holy too, we pol- 
lute all in our use of them : the worship, and sab- 
baths, and name of God, our filthy hands defile all. 
Let us not thus provoke God, lest in just wrath and 
punishments, he sanctify his own name upon us, 
which we profane; as he threatens against the Jews 
by his prophets. 

Be not satisfied to think slightly and superficially 
of God. Take time to consider him, and know who 
he is; and then you will reverence him in your 
thoughts. It deserves and requires all the whole 
heart to be taken up with it; and, alas! what is a 
heart, a narrow thing, though the largest of hearts, 
as Solomon's, ' large as the sand of the sea,' to an 
infinite God ! We can find time for our earthly 



88 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



thoughts, and for vain foolish thoughts, that are 
good for nothing ; and shall we shut out God, or 
think any sudden passing look enough for liim ? 

2. Behave yourselves with regard of him in his 
worship ; ayut aylwc, let holy things be done holily. 

3. Honour it in your lives, especially such as do 
know his name; grow daily more respective and 
tender of it, and be more circumspect in your 
actions, and ' as he who hath called you is holy, 
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. 

Thy kingdom come.'] He that is the beginning of 
all things, must likewise of necessity be the end of 
them all, and then are our intentions rightest and 
purest, when we are most possessed with the desire 
of that highest end, the glory of God, and look 
straightest unto it: and if this purpose ought to 
diffuse through all our actions, certainly in prayer 
it should be most lively and active, because prayer 
is so direct, and express a turning of the face of the 
soul unto God, and setting of its eye upon him. 
Therefore, this petition follows forth the same de- 
sire with the former, wishing honour to God. He 
is a most holy God, and the former request was for 
his glory in that, in the sanctifying of his name; 
he is a King, a great King, the greatest of all, and 
this wishes his glory in that sense, that his king- 
dom may be advanced. Thy kingdom come, 1. We 
shall enquire what his kingdom is. 2. What is 
the coming of it. And, 3. Shall speak of the pe- 
tition itself 

This kingdom is not his universal supremacy 
over all the world, and all the creatures in it, as 
being their Maker and their Preserver, and so hav- 
ing the highest and justest title, and the most ab- 
solute kind of dominion over all things ; but his 



THE lord's prayer. 



89 



peculiar royalty over his church. By the former 
he is called ' King of nations/^ and by the latter, 
his style is 'King of saints.'^ Of the former the 
Psalmist speaks. Psalm xxiv. 1 ; but that which he 
adds, verse 3, concerns the latter, and so on in the 
Psalm, and verse 7, ' Lift up your heads, O ye 
gates, that the King of glory may come in.' 

This kingdom is gathered and selected out of the 
other, and tliough the less in quantity, yet in God's 
account far more precious than all the rest; the 
church is the jewel in the ring of the world, in it 
he hath his peculiar residence and chief delight ; 
as kings choose one of their palaces, and (if they 
have more) one of their kingdoms to dwell in 
more than another. Those things that are hid 
from the rest of the world concerning this King, are 
made known to his subjects of this liis select king- 
dom ; and it is in it that he opens up, displays after 
a special manner more than in all the world besides, 
both the glory of his majesty, and the riches of" his 
bounty, here in part, and lully hereafter, and ac- 
cording to that difference it is distinguished into 
the kingdom of grace, and that of glory. 

The kingdom of grace is to be considered, 1. Jn 
the external means and administration ot it. 2. In 
its inward being and power. In the former sense, 
it is of a larger extent ; but in the latter, of a more 
uniform nature in itself, and more conform to its 
head. The former, the kingdom of grace in its 
outward administration, is plainly the whole visible 
church ; but the inward pow'er of the kingdom of 
grace, is only in the hearts of those that are truly 
sanctified, and members of the invisible church. 



» Jer. X. 7. 



* Apoc. XV. 3. 



90 AN EXPOSITION OF 

Jesus Christ is ordained and anointed the king 
and head of both, political ; but of the one, natural, 
and therefore altogether indissoluble, not only in 
regard of the whole, but of each part and member 
of it. 

The visible church is but a little parcel, a king- 
dom chosen out of the world ; but the truly godly, 
that are alone the subjects of the inward kingdom 
of grace, are but a small part of that part, a choice 
part of the visible church, as it is a choice part of 
the visible world. 

Now these three, the kingdom of glory, and 
those two kinds of the kingdom of grace, stand in 
this subordination ; the inward kingdom of grace, 
is the way and preparation for that of glory, and 
the outward kingdom of grace in the visible church, 
is the means and way of introducing, and establish- 
ing, and increasing the inward ; so that both of them 
look forward to the kingdom of glory, as their ut- 
most end, and shall terminate and end in it. 

The first of these, the external or political king- 
dom of Christ in the visible church, consists in his 
absolute and supreme authority, to appoint the 
laws of his church, and rulers by these laws. And 
the use of the word, and sacraments, and discipline, 
according to his own appointment, is the acknow- 
ledgment of him as King of his church. 

The other, the inward kingdom of grace, is then 
received in the heart, when the Spirit of God moves 
it to a willing subjection to Jesus Christ, and the 
whole soul submits itself to be governed by him ; 
he enters indeed by conquest, and yet is most 
gladly received ; it is both a lawful and a favour- 
able conquest, because he frees the soul, which is 
his by so many rights, from the tyranny of a most 



THE lord's prayer. 



91 



cruel usurper, the prince of darkness, and brings in 
a kingdom full of sweetness and happiness ; there 
is no worse in it than these, ' Righteousness, and 
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.' 

This is the folly of an unbelieving mind, that it 
entertains most false prejudices against the king- 
dom of Christ, thinks that if it let him in, it shall be 
controlled and curbed, and therefore resolves against 
it, and studies how to hold him out, ' consults (as 
it is in the second Psalm) against the Lord and his 
Anointed.' But this is a lamentable madness, to 
dream of liberty in the midst of chains, and to be 
afraid of a deliverer; there is no soul that opens to 
this King of glory, but can testify that it never 
knew what true liberty was, till it admitted this 
kingdom of God, till there was a throne for Christ 
erected within it. 

The third, the kingdom of glory, would you hear 
wherein that consists ? It is such as we cannot 
hear, nor speak of as it is. And this indeed says 
more of it than all we can say, that the excellency 
of it is unspeakable, yea inconceivable : this we 
are sure of, to speak comparatively of it, (which is 
oar help in things we understand not in them- 
selves,) that all the kingdoms of the world, unite all 
their glory together, are base and poor in respect 
of it, but splendida in serico ;^ and that all the de- 
lights we have here, not only of nature, but even of 
grace, are less to it than the smallest sparkle is to 
the sun in its brightness. All tliat is done here by 
our King Christ, in the ruling of his church, and 
power of his ordinances, and bestowing of graces 
on his own, are but preludes and preparations for 
that, and when that cometh, this way of ruling his 

^ Spangles on silk. 



92 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



church and people shall cease, as having- attained 
its end. Christ shall deliver up the kin;^doin to the 
Father ; word and sacraments and discipline shall 
be at an end, and then God shall be * ail in all.' 

2. The coming* of the kingdom of God in the 
former two, is the extending and spreading of them 
to those places and persons that have not yet re- 
ceived them, the increase of their power where they 
are entertained ; for they come g-radually, and that 
kingdom of glory as it is concerned in the other, 
comes forward in them so far, and hastens towards 
its perfection ; but in itself as their consummation, 
it shall come at once altogether in the end of time. 

3. So then in the petition all these are included, 
and in their largest extent; for it is to take it too 
narrow and too low, to restrain it only to our own 
interest in this kingdom, either of grace or glory, or 
both. Thus David excites ' all to praise the Lord,' ^ 
but most his own soul ; he begins with that, and 
ends with it. Although all they that desire it aright 
do desire that they may partake of it, (for if they 
desire that God may be glorified, they cannot, but 
even out of love to that glory, besides their own hap- 
piness, desire that they themselves may be among 
those that may honour God as the subjects of his 
kingdom,) yet they stay not there, but dilate their 
hearts to wish the advancement and accomplish- 
ment of his kingdom in all the elect, and in all 
those ways that tend to it ; and their love may rise 
to that high strain, as without considering their own 
interest at all, yea, supposing that they were to be 
shut out of his kingdom themselves, yet still to 
wish. Thy kingdom come, Let others enjoy 
and bless thee. Lord, for ever, even though I should 



1 Psalm ciii. 



THE lord's prayer. 



93 



be excluded : let thine elect be gathered, though 1 
were none of them : be thou great, O Lord, what- 
soever become of me." 

1. Considering what a height of glory will arise 
to God out of the final subduing of his enemies, 
and full deliverance of his church, and the bringing 
home all his children after all their sufferings and 
sorrows, to sit down together to that great marriage- 
supper of the Lamb ; they cannot but thus breathe 
forth their longings and wishes, that that time may 
be hastened, and the fulness of their Lord's king- 
dom accomplished, where it shall abide for all eter- 
nity. 

2. Both in relation to that end, and likewise in 
respect of the very present glory that redounds to 
God in it, they earnestly desire the advancement 
and enlargement of Christ's kingdom here on earth. 
For besides that thus it is rising to its perfection, it 
is no small present glory to our King Christ, as a 
testimony of his invincible power, that he rules in 
the very midst of his enemies, and in despite of 
them all.^ Not only sits sure and keeps his own, 
thrust at him who will, but when he pleases gains 
upon them, and enlarges his territories, and growls 
greater by their resistances and oppositions. He is 
here, as David, often assaulted, and put to defend 
his kingdom, often in war, but always a conqueror; 
but after this militant kingdom, he shall be as 
Solomon, who likewise typified him, reigning in 
perfect peace. 

Now because the enemies of his kingdom are 
not yet, as they shall be, all under his feet, but 
round about him, and incessantly plotting and 



* Psalm ex. 



94 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



working against him, and Satan hath his kingdom 
and his throne in the world opposite to Christ; 
therefore this is one chief point of this request, 
that all adverse power may be brought low, that 
all his enemies may lick the dast, and melt before 
him as wax before the fire: and for us, especially 
in these times, that that kingdom of antichrist, 
the son of perdition, may, answerably to that his 
name, be brought to perdition, that God would 
remember his promise, (for the faithful are called 
his remembrancers, though he forgets not, and 
hath his set time for judgment, yet he loves to be 
stirred up by the cries of his children,) that he 
would make good at length those words he hath 
spoken of BabeVs ruin, and the flourishing estate 
of his church in these latter times. 

That the power of the word, and purity of reli- 
gion, maugre all the policy and power of men 
opposing it, may spread and extend itself, and 
make irresistible progress, as the sun in his course : 
that Jesus Christ may be daily taking further pos- 
session of the nations, even to the ends of the earth, 
according to the patent of his Father's donation. 
And the certainty of its endurance and growth till 
it be complete, should not abate, but increase the 
vigour of our prayers for it ; and the nearer things 
are to their accomplishment; the more usually the 
Lord excites the hopes and prayers of his people 
about them, and they pray the more earnestly, 
moving naturally in it, and therefore fastest wher 
nearest their place. 

Again, we pray in this, that where Christ dotV 
reign in his outward ordinances, there he would 



' Dan. ix. 



THE lord's prayer. 



95 



bring in bis spiritual kingdom into the souls of men, 
that * sinners may be converted unto him.' The 
love of the glory of Jesus Christ will desire this 
earnestly, that many hearts may be brought in to 
submit to him; for 'the glory of a king is in the 
multitude of his subjects/ Further, that they who 
are his people may grow more conform to his laws; 
that his dominion may be more powerful in their 
hearts and lives; and particularly, that we ourselves 
may find it so. You that will not receive the king- 
dom of God within yourselves, to what purpose do 
you speak this, as if you desired it to be enlarged, 
and flourish abroad ? You can have no comfort 
in it, remaining slaves to sin, and so enemies in- 
deed to it; neither the kingdom of Christ in the 
government of the church on the one side, nor on 
the other, the coming of his kingdom of glory, can 
do you any benefit, while the third is wanting, the 
inward kingdom of grace, which is the true end of 
the former, and means to partake of the happiness 
of the latter. Why wish you the day of the Lord ? 
as the prophet says of that day he there speaks of. 
Mistake it not, though that day of his kingdom 
shall be all glory in itself, it shall be to you, re- 
maining still impenitent, darkness and not light, 
full of horror and amazement. 2. As you can have 
no comfort in his kingdom, so you cannot really 
wish its advancement; you wish it well elsewhere, 
as if you were content it should be any where, 
rather than within yourselves. But would you in- 
deed have his kingdom to be embraced and ad- 
vanced, then do for one, let him be thy King; first 
give him thine own heart, and then wish him many 
more, for then thou wilt wish it heartily and truly. 
You that have received this kingdom, yet have 



96 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



need still, even in that sense, to wish the coining 
of it in fnrther degrees and fuller efficacy. Find 
yon not many rebels yet unsubdued ? No doubt 
they that search and know their own hearts, will, 
and often do complain of them to their King-. O 
such swarms of lusts, and unruly irregular desires! 
When shall they all be brought into subjection ?'* 
And so they lift up their wish from this to the other, 
the full and glorious king^dom, and say again and 
again, Thy kingdom come. This is the noble desire 
that takes up the hearts of the godly, while others 
are desiring* and pursuing low base things; their 
minds, and their endeavour to their power, are 
chiefly set upon this, the advancement of the king- 
dom of God. They seek not themselves, and their 
own thing's, with the world, to the prejudice of 
this kingdom; no, they desire to lose any thing, to 
suffer contempts and abasements themselves, so 
this kingdom may flourish. St. Paul cares not 
what he be accounted, mod 6 magnificetur Christus ; ^ 
as faithful ministers of state, (and wise princes 
choose such,) that are not making up themselves to 
their master's disadvantage, but always preferring 
his honour to their private benefit, feeling his losses 
and gains more than their own; as was said of St. 
Augustin, Dominicis semper lucris gaud ens, et dam- 
nis via^rensJ^ This is the right temper of the ser- 
vants and ministers of Jesus Christ, to be all. for 
their master, willing that their name, and estates, 
and lives, and all may make a part of his footstool 
to step up to his throne; not forced as his enemies 
to be so, but willingly laying themselves low for his 
glory. And this comfort they have, that when his 



» Phil. i. 20 



THE lord's prayer. 



97 



Kingdom shall come in its fulness, and all his ene- 
mies shall be trodden down for ever, then they 
shall be glorified with him, and shall see his glory 
with exceeding joy. Therefore do they so often 
desire his coming, and are so weary of all they see 
here. And when he says himself, for their assur- 
ance and comfort, ' Surely I come quickly,' their 
earnest desire makes them echo, 'Even so, come 
Lord .Jesus.' 

There is some loss to the flesh, if we will hear it 
in this desire in each kind ; the erecting of Christ's 
kingdom in purity in his church, thrusts out the 
outward pomp and magnificence that naturally we 
like so well. His kingdom of grace cannot be in 
the soul, without the forsaking of all our accus- 
tomed and pleasing ways of sin; but they that 
know the excellency of his kingdom, are well con- 
tent to forego all that suits not with it. Thus that 
his kingdom of glory may come, the world must be 
burnt up, &c. and that we particularly may come 
to it, we must pass through death ; but it is 
worth all. 

Thy will he done on earth, as it is in heaven,] ' I 
will direct my prayer to thee,' says David.* The 
word is, I will set it in order, or orderly address it, 
which is not the curious contriving either of the 
words or method, (for there may be most of that 
where there is least of this right directing it to God,) 
but the due ordering of the frame and desires of 
the heart; and certainly one main point of what is 
taught us, as we have said, in the order of this 
prayer, is this particular, that it not only prefers 
the honour of God to all our interest, setting the 

• Psalm V. 3. 

H 



98 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



heart first upon that; but keeps it to it, causes it to 
dwell upon that in three several petitions, varying 
the expression of that one desire, as often as there 
be several requests following of our ow^n concern- 
ment, teaching us that this doth, in its own worth, 
and therefore should likewise in our affection, itself 
alone being but one, w^eigh down all the different 
things besides that we can desire. And thus withal 
it is accommodate to our dulness, for that our 
hearts would not readily with one word be either 
duly stirred up, or stretched forth in the heavenly- 
desire ; so that both to excite and dilate them the 
more, it is thus iterated without vain tautology. 
This so short and complete a form given us by so 
wise a master, is far from that; yea, it was particu- 
larly intended in opposition to that abuse. And 
not only doth the dignity of the thing itself, and 
our indisposedness, require this adding of one re- 
quest to another concerning it, but there is in the 
petitions themselves a very profitable difference, 
though their scope is one ; they are as so many- 
several arrows aimed at the same mark. 

The first, in general, wishes all manner of honour 
to the name of God. And because his name is 
especially honoured in the advancement, and in 
the final completing of his spiritual kingdom, the 
second is particular in that; also because, until that 
kingdom be completed and brought all together, 
it lies in two several countries. There is one part 
of it already above, which is the appointed place 
for the perfection and perpetuity of this kingdom ; 
another part here below, but tending thither. And 
this third petition particularly concerns these of 
this lower region and condition ; desiring this, that 
in obedience to their King, they may be as conform 



THE lord's prayer. 



99 



as is possible to those above. Thy will he done on 
earth, as it is in heaven. 

Thy will.'] God is most perfectly one, and his 
will one, yea* his will is himself, he is purus actus ; 
yet in respect of its several objects or circumstances 
that concern them, it is diversely distingiiisbed in 
schools, sometimes needlessly, yea erroneously, but 
some of them are sound and useful. But here we 
shall not need them much. His will is taken ac- 
cording to a very useful figure, for that which he 
wills;* and we desire here, that we ourselves and 
others may be obedient to his will in every thing, 
even here on earth, that he may be acknowledged 
and served, not only in heaven, but here likewise. 

For this (no question) means not the equality of 
our obedience to theirs, but the quality of it,^ that 
though it fall very far short of so perfect a pattern, 
yet it may bear some resemblance to it, as a scho- 
lar s writing, though it be nothing so good as his 
copy, yet may have so much likeness, as to show 
he follows it. It doth no wrong, but helps a man 
much in any thing, the more perfect example he 
hath before him ; although he be not able to match 
it, yet the looking on it makes him do the better : 
though an archer shoot not so high as he aims, yet 
the higher he takes his aim, the higher he shoots. 
And that we may not think it strange that we have 
here the citizens of heaven set before us as a model 
for obedience, we have our heavenly Father him- 
self propounded by our Saviour in the former 
chapter, as our example for perfection, 'Be ye per- 
fect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.' 



* To QeXrjTov. 

' OVX 0(TOV dXX! MQ, 



AN LXPOSITIUN OF 



The obedience in heaven is, I. Universal, with- 
out choosini^ and excepting ; and this is, because 
the will and command of God is the very reason of 
it. The angels are said ' to do his commandments, 
and to hearken to the voice of his word they wait 
but for a word from him, and that is enough. And 
in this should we desire to be like them. Though 
we cannot fully keep any one commandment, yet 
should we exclude none of them from our endea- 
vour; yea the rather, because we want that perfec- 
tion in the degree, should we study this other, 
which is a kind of perfection in the design and 
purpose; 'to have respect to all the commandments/ 
as David says; to have our eye upon them all, as 
the word there is. So Psalm xvi. 8, 'I have set the 
Lord always before me, {cequaliter posui,) in an 
even constant regard of his will. And the want of 
this discovers, that much of our obedience hath not 
the right stamp on it, is no way heavenly. 

A man may think he approves and does the will 
of God in some things, where it is but by accident, 
because the letter of the commandment is coincident 
with his own will ; and so it is not the will of God, 
but his own, that moves him. Therefore in doing 
that which God commands, he does not God*s 
will, but his own ; and therefore when they meet 
not, but are contrary, there it appears, for he leaves 
God's will then, and follows his own. A covetous 
father condemns the prodigality of his lavish son, 
and the son again cries out against the avarice of 
his niggardly father. And thus both seem to con- 
demn sin : but the truth is, neither do it ; it is but 
two extreme sins fighting together, neither of them 



* Psalm ciii. 20. 



Tur. lord's prayer. 



regarding the rule that God hath set; it is bu 
their two idols choking each other, as the heathen 
set their gods together by the ears. Bui they that 
therefore hate sin, because of God's countermand, 
and love his will for itself, their obedience is more 
even, and regards the whole will of God, and is at 
all times, for there is that universality too in their 
obedience, conform to that of heaven. * So shall I 
keep thy law,' says David, ' continually, for ever 
and ever.^ 

See a man's carriage when tempted or provoked 
to some sin ; for when the occasion is out of reach, 
and out of sight, what wonder then he forbears'* 
But when it offers itself, as by company, intempe- 
rance, or cursing or swearing by passion, it appears, 
if a man yield then, that sin was not out before, 
but only lay close and quiet within till it was 
stirred, as mud in the bottom of water: nahira 
vexata prodit selpsam. So a man may, for his own 
gain or his own glory, do God's will. Jehu could 
say to Jonadab, ' Come and see my zeal for the 
Lord.^ 

2. It is cheerful. It is the very natural mo- 
tion of glorified spirits to be acted and moved 
by the will of God :^ * They excel in strength,' says 
the Psalmiso in that Psalm ciii. ^ and do his com- 
mandments.' They have no other use for all their 
strength, that is the proper employment of it. 
Thus the godly man, in so far as he is renewed (for 
in so far he suits with heaven) delights himself in 
the way of God's commandments, takes more 
pleasure in keeping them, than profane men do in 
all their pleasures of sin, by which they break 
them. He is never well but when he is in-the way 



102 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



of obedience, and the ways of sin are painful and 
grievous to him ; then hath he most inward glad- 
ness and contentment, when he keepeth closest to 
his rule And the reason why he finds the law of 
God thus pleasant is, because it is not to him as to 
the ungodly one without, driving" him violently, but 
it is within him, and therefore moves him sweetly. 
' T delight to do thy will, O my God,'^ and he adds, 
' Thy law is within my heart,' or in the midst of 
my bowels ; so, Psalm Ixxxiv. 5. ' In whose heart 
are the ways not only their feet in the ways, but 
the ways are in their hearts. 

3. They do the will of God in heaven unani- 
mously and harmoniously ; there is neither an evil 
eye of envy among them, not a lofty eye of pride, 
w^hatsoever degrees there be among them in their 
stations and employments. Not to be curious in 
that, nor obtrude ourselves into things we have not 
seen, yet sure the lesser do not envy the greater, nor 
the greater despise the less; and the reason is, be- 
cause they are all so wholly taken up, and so 
strongly united in this joint desire of doing the will 
of God. Thus ought his servants here, each one 
in his place, and according to that which God hath 
dispensed to him, the greatest humbly, and the 
meanest contentedly, mind this, and nothing but 
this — to do his will. 

Answerably to the sense of this petition do godly 
men in prayer, 1. Vent their regret and grief unto 
God, that there is so little regard and obedience 
to his will amongst men, that they see the greatest 
part ' taking pleasure in unrighteousness,' as the 
apostle speaks. Thus David, * Rivers of water run 
down mine eyes, because men keep not thy law/ 



> Psalm xl. 8. 



THE lord's prayer. 



103 



And as they bewail uno^odliness without them, so 
especially the strength of corruption within them- 
selves. They begin there, and express their grief 
in the presence of God, that they are so clogged 
and hampered with sin's cleaving fast to them, and 
crossing their purposes of obedience; saying with 
the apostle, * I find a law in my members warring 
against the law of my mind/ 2. They declare their 
desire of redress, both in themselves and others; 
that their great desire is, that more obedience were 
given unto God, and particularly that they had 
more faculty and strength to serve him.^ 3. They 
pray in this, for the effecting of this their de*i^e, 
that God would incline men's hearts, and particu- 
larly their own, to the obedience of his will, (what- 
soever vain will-worshippers say, they are indeed 
in that sense LSfeXoBprjdi^oL, make a deity of the will,) 
not doubting that it is in his hand to do so, and 
that he hath more power of our hearts than we 
ourselves have; otherwise it were in vain to put 
these supplications into his hand, if he have no 
power to answer them, to give them the real an- 
swer of performance. ' Incline my heart unto thy 
law,' &c. ' Turn us, O Lord,' &c. 4. They do in 
this request offer up their own hearts to God, to be 
fashioned and moulded to his will. And every 
godly man, if he had the hearts of all the men in 
the world in his disposal, he w^ould dispose them the 
same way, lodge them with his own, and make one 
sacrifice of all. His own he gives wholly, resigns 
it up to his Lord, to be as a piece of wax in God's 
band, pliable to what form he will, to do with it 
what he will, to turn out and banish whatsoever 
displeases him, and to make it to his own mind. 
* Psalm cxix. 4, 5. 



104 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



In a word, this is the desire of a Christian, that his 
own will may be annihilated, and the will of God 
placed in its room, that he may have no will but 
God's, that he may be altogether subject to God's 
commanding; and his working will, to do what he 
commands, and to be heartily content with what 
lie does ; for both these are in it.^ 

Where he commands any thing, though our own 
corrupt will grumble at it, and think it hard, we 
must tread upon it, to obey his will, making that 
the rule of all we do. To this end we must en- 
deavour to be acquainted with his will, and know 
what it is, otherwise we cannot do it ; but once 
knowing it, this is the end of knowing, to do ; other- 
wise (you know) that knowledge will make us the 
worse for it, the more guilty. 

It is a safe and comfortable thing to walk every 
step by his direction ; the constant regard of that, 
is that (we see) w^hich conforms us to heaven. It 
was observable how this will prevailed with Abra- 
ham. He was a loving father, it appears, and upon 
Sarah s private motion, while there was no more, 
he could not find in his heart to put Ishmael out of 
doors, that was but 'the son of the bond-woman; 
but upon God's command he was ready to put 
Isaac to death, that was 'the son uf the promise.' 
And he that taught us to pray thus, gives us his 
own example in this. He did tlie will of his Fa- 
ther indeed, as it is done in heaven, and he came 
to the earth for that purpose ; then said he, ' Lo I 
come, to do thy will, O my God ;' and in that great 
and most painful part of his work, ' not my will 

' It is love that makes this union of wills, idem velle e* 
idem nolle. — " Both inclinations and aversions the same.** 



THE lord's prayer. 



106 



but thine be done/ For our actions then, let his 
word be our ^uide ; and for the eveijts of things, 
and all that concerns us, let his good pleasure and 
wise disposing be our will ; let us give up the rud^ 
der of our life into his hand, to be steered by him. 

For our actions, is it not better to observe his 
will, than to be subject to our own corrupt wills ? 
and to Satan's, ' led captive at his will ?^ And as 
it is our best to do what pleaseth him, so in all his 
dealing with us to be pleased with what he does ; 
not to think it were better for us to be richer or 
greater in the world than we are, or to murmur and 
struggle under affliction. There is nothing to be 
gained by this ; ' Who hath resisted his will' at any- 
time ? In all things he doeth what he will, whe- 
ther it like us or not ; our repining hinders his 
working not at all, but it hinders our own comfort ; 
our wrestling and fretting do but pain ourselves- 
If we be his (as we profess) then we may be assured 
he loves us; and if we believe that, and withal be- 
lieve that he is wiser than we, then we must con- 
fess, that whatsoever he doeth with us is better than 
our own choosing for ourselves could be. 

This is the only way of constant quietness and 
contentment of mind. Who is there outwardly so 
prosperous, but meets with many things that cross 
his will ? Now he that hath renounced his own 
will, and is fixed upon a continual complacency 
with the good pleasure and providence of God, to 
will what he wills, and nothing else ; every thing 
that befals him, he looks upon that side of it as 
God's will, and so is satisfied. Doth God think 
this good, and shall I think it evil 

There is difference of estates, but all coming 
from the same hand, which is Job's consideration : 



i 



106 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



to embrace and kiss the worst that can come, ia 
our duty. ^It is the Lord/ said David, 'let him 
do with me what seems good in his eyes.'^ Thus, 

Wilt thou have me poor or rich, healthful or sick, 
esteemed or depised ? Wilt thou that I live, or 
that I die ? I am thine, thy will be done." 

Give us this day our daily bread.] Man is made 
up of two different principles, a soul derived from 
heaven, and a body at first moulded out of earth, as 
Nazianzen expresses it, Trrovg koI )(ovc, the breath 
of God, and the dust of the earth : ^ and according 
to his composure, so is this prayer composed ; be- 
ing made for his use, it is wisely fitted to his con- 
dition. 

The greatest part of it is taken up with such de- 
sires as are spiritual, and so most suitable to his 
w^orthier part, his soul ; such as do immediately 
concern God, and such as properly concern itself 
Yet the body is not wholly shut out, though the 
meaner part; yet being a part of man, and the 
workmanship of God, this one petition is bestowed 
upon its concernment. 

Observe in it briefly, 1. The matter or object of 
the request. 2. The qualification of it. The mat- 
ter under the name of bread, not only bread for all 
food, as the Hebrews do ; but food, so named, for 
all other necessaries. By bread, as the chief sup- 
port and staflf of man's life, is meant all needful 
temporal blessings, food, and raiment, and health, 
and peace, &c. a blessing on the works of oor call- 
ing, and the seasons of the year, and all our law- 
ful temporal affairs. 

• 2 Sam. X. 12. 

^ Ex igneo spiritu et terreno corpore. — " The spirit fiery and 
the body earthly." 



THE lord's prayer. 



107 



Though a godly man looks upon the necessities 
of this life as a piece of his present captivity, and is 
often looking beyond it to that purer life he hopes 
for; jiet in the meanwhile he doth, in obedience to 
God, use these things, and in dependence upon 
God he seeks them at God's own hand. 

In the request, together with its object, as here 
we have it, there is, 1. Piety. 2. Moderation. 
Godliness, and soberness. 

1. Pieijjy asking our bread of God; asking it in 
the true notion by way of gift. There is a natural 
cry or voice of our necessity; and that not only 
ungodly men, but unreasonable creatures have; the 
very beasts and fowls, as the Psalm hath it, * The 
ravens ask their meat from God :^ but this spiritual 
cry of prayer, is the peculiar voice of God's own 
children. 

Now to ask bread, or needful temporal things at 
the hands of God, is not only no way incongruous 
to the piety and spiritual-mindedness of a Christian, 
and no wrong to the majesty of God ; but On the 
contrary, it were impiety in man, and an injury to 
God not to do so. We have here the warrant of 
his own command, ' Pray thus ;' and is it not most 
reasonable ? 

I. Seeing these things are necessary for us to re- 
ceive, and in the hand of God to bestow, why ought 
we not to seek them there ? 

Although in his wisdom he knows what we need, 
and is in bounty most ready to furnish us, yet this 
is the homage we owe to God, to present ourselves 
and our necessities before him, and seek our sup- 
plies by prayer. In it there is a clear acknowledg- 
ment of the divine providence and goodness, and of 
our faith and reliance on it; and faith is not only 



1G8 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



signified in prayer in these things, but is acted 
and excited, and by that means is increased and 
strengthened. 2. Godliness hath both kinds of pro- 
mises, those of the life to come, and those of this 
life; and as godliness hath right to them both, so it 
teacheth to use them both, and particularly this 
way, by turning the promises into prayers, as a 
means appointed by God, both to fit us for obtain- 
ment, and to obtain the performance of them. 3. 
Though a man hath his provision by him, not only 
of a day, but of many years, yet hath he need still 
daily to ask it of God, for it is still in God's hand 
to give it him, or not to give, though it is in a man's 
own hand in present possession. 1. It is in God's 
dispose to continue it to him, or suddenly to pluck 
it from him out of his hand, or even out of his 
mouth ; ut bolus erepfus e faucibus. How many 
have been thus on a sudden turned out of great 
estates into extreme poverty, either by the hands 
of men, which are moved by God, or by some im- 
mediate accident from his own hand, and others by 
little and little, their estates consuming and melt- 
ing as snow-balls. In the former the judgment of 
God is as a lion, and in the latter as a moth, as the 
prophet speaks. Again, 2. If God do continue a 
man in his possessions, yet there is further needful, 
for his cheerful use of daily bread, that calmness 
and content of mind, and healthfalness of body, 
that are God's peculiar gifts, without which all is 
unsavoury. Is the mind in bitterness or distemper, 
or the body tied to its sick-bed ? This disrelishes 
a man's daily bread, though it be of the richest kind. 
3. Having bread and a disposition to use it, yet 
there is further an influence of blessing from God 
needful to make it serve its proper end ; and with- 



THE lord's prayer. 



109 



out this, that staff of life is but as a broken staff in 
a man's hand that cannot support him. 4. Besides 
that ordinary blessing, there is yet something- fur- 
ther that a godly man desires, and desires it most 
of all ; a secret character and stamp of the peculiar 
favour of God even upon his bread, his temporal 
enjoyments. And this is a proper fruit of prayer, 
as there is (as is already said) a peculiar voice of 
God's own children in this request, so God knows 
it particularly, and distinguishes it from the com- 
mon voice of natural men, and other creatures that 
call for supply ; and therefore he gives that pecu- 
liar voice of their suit a peculiar answer. Together 
with the daily bread which he gives to others, and 
a common blessing on it, they have something that 
is not given to others. This is that which particu- 
larly sweetens their bread, that they receive it 
after a special manner out of their Father's own 
band, having humbly asked it by prayer as his 
gift. 

That is the other thing observable in the word of 
the request, give. 

We are not by this forbidden, no, nor dispensed 
with from labour and honest industry for it ; but 
after all our labour we are still to acknowledge all 
as a free gift, both the bread we obtain by labour 
and the strength by which we labour. Just as we 
find it of the other bread, the bread of life, ' La- 
bour for it, which the Son of Man will give;' ^ 
laboured for, and yet given. The fruit of our 
labours may be a just reward from men, but it is 
always free from God, even these lowest benefits to 
the best and holiest men : 'I am less,' says Jacob, 



^ John, vi. 27. 



no 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



^than the least of thy mercies.' We have no motive 
for the least mercy but his own goodness, as our 
Father; so that it suits with this, as with all the 
other requests here: though we deserve nothing, 
yet he is our Father. It is proper for children to 
ask bread of their Father; as our Saviour teaches 
us in the next chapter; therefore he teaches us here 
to say, Father, give us bread, 

2. The moderation of the desire appears, in com- 
parison of the number of the other petitions, all 
the rest for things spiritual, and but one for tem- 
porals ; those that regard the glory of God as the 
chief, are three to one with it, and those that con- 
cern our own spiritual good two for one. 

Thus for the number; and the order or place, 
which so many have taken quite contrary, it suits 
very well with this, as the least of our requests, 
and so to be accounted by us. It is strange that 
this right place of it should have scfft-ed men from 
its right meaning, and persuaded them to take it 
for our spiritual food, or the bread of life, because 
it is the first of the three. But taking it as it is, 
for this life's necessaries, there is no need of such 
reasons as some give for its standing in this order, 
that are a little light and unsolid. But to omit 
even those that are more pertinent, which justify 
this order, though this petition be less than the two 
following, it seems truly the only fit place for it, for 
that very reason, because it is the least. It is 
known to be the ordinary course of skilful orators 
to place the meanest part of their speech in the 
middle ; and in this let the ear of any understand- 
ing mind be judge, whether it sounds not much 
better, that this request pass in the middle, than if 
the prayer should have ended with it; whereas now 



THE lord's prayer. 



Ill 



it begins spiritually and closes so. And this peti- 
tion, which is *'the baggage of our warfare,"^ (for 
the things of this life prove so too often,) is cast in 
the middle. 

Now, how fe^v are there that follow Christ's esti- 
mate in this, that have the very strength of their 
desires, and most of their thoughts on things that 
are spiritual, and do but in passing lend a word to 
the things of this life;^ this proportion few will 
admit, it makes not for their purpose. The apostle 
gives this character of those that perish, that 'they 
mind earthly things.' 

But to consider the words, each word designing 
the matter of this request doth clearly teach us 
moderation in it. Give iis our daily bread, 'Hav- 
ing food and raiment,' says the apostle, ' let us be 
content.'^ How few be thereof us, if any, that 
want these, and yet how few that have content- 
ment P It is the enormity and boundlessness of 
our desires, that causeth this. There is no neces- 
sity of curious food and raiment, but such food as 
nourishes, and such raiment as covers. 

Our daily bread^ in the original kizwvaiov. Not 
at all to dispute the word, its genuine sense is, 
such as is fit for our daily sustentation, therefore 
rendered daily bread; and answers w^ell to the word 
in that petition of Agur, ' convenient or proportion- 
able food,'"^ and so agrees with that we said of 
bread ; proportionable, not to our lust, but our 

' De impedimentis militias nost.ree. 

2 Quamprimum a corpore ad animam redeundum. Sen, 
— « From the cares of the body to those of the soul, return with 
the least possible delay. ' 

^ I Tim. vi. 8. 

* an^. — Talmud on Num. iv. 7- 

* Prov. XXX. 8. 



112 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



necessity. This was the sin of the Jews, and a most 
impertinent sin in the wilderness, Hhey asked meat 
r r their lust ;' they were not content of bread for 
themselves, but must have meat for their lust too, 
must have that fed likewise. We are not to be car- 
vers of the proportion ourselves, but leave that to 
God, who knows best what is convenient for us; 
therefore the word is there, * of my set or ordained 
portion,' (>pn CDnb,) ordained by thee. 

Oil?* bread, 77^1(0))^.] Not seeking any other but 
that which is our own by our just industry, and 
God's free gift. What is it but the base immoder- 
ate desire of having', that stretches a man beyond 
this ? When a man lays dowri that conclusion with 
himself, that he must have so much, then it follows, 
that any way tending to that he must use, if he 
can, by right; but if not, any way rather than miss; 
by violence and oppression, or by deceit, through 
all ways fair and foul.^ When a man is once upon 
that journey there is no stopping, till either God 
recal him, or he plunge himself in the pit of de- 
struction. ^They that will be rich,' says the apos- 
tle, that are resolved upon that, *they fall into 
temptation, and divers snares, that drown men,'&c. 
that is the issue. 

This day,^ It is true that this condemns not a 
due providence in men for themselves and their 
families, in a just and moderate way; but men de- 
, ceive themselves in this, few stay there, but under 
that name harbour gross avarice and earthliness. 
But in this word, we have the true temper of a 
Christian niind, that whatsoever is his own law- 

^ Si possis recte, si non, quocunque modo rem. Hor. — " Get 
money : — O, by all means, honestly ! That is, if you can 
but get money." 



THE lord's prayer. 



113 



ful providence, and whatsoever is the success of 
it, that he lives and relies on, is the providence of 
God, not his own ; he lives upon that from one day 
to another, as a child in his father's house ; and for 
provision for afterwards thinks it is as good in 
God's hand as if it were in his own, and therefore 
asks not so much stock, or so much yearly rent, 
but bread for to-day. If he have much land or greut 
revenues, yet trusts no more in that than if he had 
nothing ; and if he have to-day, and nothing for 
to-morrow, (as the Israelites had manna,) yet 
trusts no less in God than' if he had thousands. 
He resolves thus, "Whether I have much or little, 
I am at God's providing, and Jive upon that from 
day to day ; ' The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not 
want.'''' 

These two go together, as we have observed them 
here together, godliness and moderation, [evaijieia'' 
avrapKeLa' 1 Tim. vi. 6.) godliness in this particu- 
lar, of casting over our care of temporal things on 
God by prayer. ' liCt your moderation he known,'^ 
&c. But how shall we have it ? Make your re- 
quests known unto God, and that in all things ; 
that will ease you, and not trouble him. But when 
we lodge such desires as are not fit indeed to be im- 
parted to him, this is our shame and proves our 
vexation. It is a wonder what men mean ; but it 
is a folly so rooted in men's hearts that no dis- 
course will pluck it up : they imagine that there is 
happiness in having much, and will neither believe 
religion, nor reason, nor experience, though all 
teach the contrary. They cannot be persuaded to 
make this the rule of their desires, daily bread, 
and for to-day; but are still projecting for long 

* Psalm, xxiii. 1, ' Phil. iv. 5. 

I 



114 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



time to come, though they are not sure of a day. 
Men are still beginning- to live, even when their 
years tell them they should be thinking how to 
die ; are upon new contrivances for the world, 
when they must shortly leave it: and this is one 
point of this our disease, that it grows still, and is 
strongest in old age, when there is least reason for 
it.' 

What is it that riches can do ? Our Saviour 
tells us, if we will believe him, that 'man's life 
doth not consist in the abundance of the things he 
possesseth there is something necessary we see, 
and truly that is not much, and what is more than 
serves, many times proves but more encumbrance ; 
one staff will help a man in his way, but a bundle 
of staves would burden and weary him. Would 
men but stop a little and ask themselves, What is 
this I do ? What do I aim at in all my turmoil?" 
It might possibly recal them, would they but hear 
Solomon's question, and tell him what good the 
rich have of possessing more than they use, but 
only of beholding it with their eyes ; if there 
be any thing more, it is more care and troubles.^ 
He that hath a hundred rooms hath but one body, 
he can lodge but in one at once ; he that might 
have sea and land ransacked for delicates to his 
table, hath himself but one appetite to serve with 
them all. 

^ Quo minus viae restat, eo plus viatici comparare. — " How 
absurd to keep laying in the more provision as the journey gets 
shorter 

^ Ad supervacua sudatur. — " Hard toil for mere superflui- 
ties." 

3 Et curae circum laqueata tecta volantes 

And harpy cares round your boss'd ceilings fly." 



THE lord's prayer. " 115 



Then consider, that beyond the bounds of this 
petition, if a man once pass, there be no bounds 
after; he knows not where to stay :^ one thousand 
would have something more to save it unspent; 
and when that grows a little, it is best even to 
make another thousand, and save that too, and fall 
a scraping for more. 

And if this is ahvays a frenzy, most of all in 
these times: ' Behold,^ says God to Baruch, ' I will 
break down that which I have built, and that which 
I have planted will I pluck up, even this whole 
land ; and seekest thou great things for thyself P'^ 
"But is it not wisdom to be provident, and see far 
before a man ; and to look no further but to the 
present is the character of a fool True it is in- 
deed ; and therefore the truly wise man despises 
this . providence for a base uncertain life, and is 
content if alive but from one day to another. But 
there is a higher design in his head, a providence 
of a further reach, that sees afar off indeed, to make 
himself an estate for eternity, that takes up his 
thoughts and pains; the other is the grossest short- 
sightedness, to look no further than a moment ; it 
is indeed fjLvoTra^sLv, as St. Peter speaks. But that 
life the Christian's eye is upon, is of another na- 
ture, where none of these poor things shall have 
place ; ' No marrying, nor giving in marriage,' as 
our Saviour says; so no eating nor drinking, no 
need of bread, nor of this prayer for it, but we shall 
be as the angels of God. 

^nd forgive us our debts, &c.] * Thy loving 
kindness,' says David, ' is better than life there 



^ Depinge ubi sistam. — " Show me where to stop." 
' Jer. xlv. 4, o, 

i 2 



116 * AN EXPOSITION OF 



fore this request rises above the former. In it we 
sought bread for the present life; in this we entreat 
God's favour ; not com, nor wine, nor oil, but that 
that glads the heart more than them all, ' the light 
of his countenance,' that the thick cloud of our 
sins be dispelled by a free pardon, as he pro- 
mises/ 

In this petition we have, 1. The request; 2. The 
clause added. That which is here called debts, St. 
Luke hath sins; and here, in the observation our 
Saviour adds, they are called (TrapaTrrwjuara) 
offences/ Now sin, as it is called a debt, is taken 
for the guiltiness of sin, which is no other but pcenas 
debere, to owe the suffering of punishment, or an 
obligement to the curse which the law hath pro- 
nounced against sin ; and because this results so 
immediately from sin, therefore sin is often put for 
the engagement to punishment ; so the apostle's 
phrase may be taken/ So then, the debt of sin 
being the tie to punishment, which follows upon 
it, the forgiving of sin can be no other than the ac- 
quitting of a man from that curse, setting him free 
from his debt, his engagement to suffer ; and there- 
fore to imagine a forgiveness of sin with retaining 
of the punishment, is direct nonsense and a contra- 
diction. 

To pass the words of this request through our 
mouths (as the rest) is an easy and common thing, 
but altogether fruitless ; but to offer it as a spiritual 
supplication of the heart unto God, is a thing done 
but by a few; and to as many as do offer it so, it 
never returns in vain, but is certainly granted. 
Now to offer it so as a lively spiritual suit unto 



* Isaiah, xliv. 2. 



2 1 Cor. XV. 56. 



THE lord's prayer 



117 



God, there are necessarily supposed in the soul 
that presents it, these things : 

1. A clear conviction and deep sense of the 
guiltiness of sin, both in general what this guilti- 
ness is, what is that debt that sin engages us in, 
that misery to which it binds us over. 1. As the 
deprivement of happiness, the loss of God and his 
favour for ever. 2. The endless endurance of his 
wrath, and hottest indignation, and all the anguish 
which that is able to fill the soul with to all eternity. 
UnsufFerable, inconceivable torment ! Described to 
us by such things as we can understand, but going 
infinitely beyond them; *A gnawing worm that 
dieth not, and a fire that cannot be quenched;' this 
is the portion of the sinner from God, and the herit- 
age appointed to him, as Zophar speaks. Then in 
particular there must be a seeing our own guilti- 
ness ; a man must know himself to be nothing else 
but a mass of sin, and so fuel for that fire; must 
see himself a transgressor of the whole law of God, 
and therefore abundantly liable to that sentence of 
death. 

2. Upon this apprehension will follow a very 
earnest desire to be free, and such a word as that, 
' O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver 
me !' And seeing no way either to satisfy or escape 
without a free pardon, the soul then looks upon 
that as its only happiness, with David, ' Blessed is 
the man,' O the blessedness of that man ! ' whose ini- 
quity is forgiven, and whose sin is covered.' 

3. In this request there is a taking of it as a 
thing attainable^ for it is implied that there is no 
impossibility in it; and this arises from the pro- 
mises of God, and the tenor of the covenant of 
grace, and the Mediator of that covenant revealed 



118 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



in tlie word, apprehend eel only in their general 
tenor. 

4. It imports an humble confession of ^^uiltiness 
before the Lord, as follows there, * I acknowledge 
my sin/ &c. 'and hide not mine iniquity.'^ The 
way to find God hiding* and covering it, he per- 
ceived was for himself not to hide it ; the way to be 
acquitted at God's hand, is for the soul, with humi- 
lity and grief, to accuse itself before him. 

5. Where there is this sensible knowledge and 
humble acknowledgment of sin and misery, and 
earnest desire of })ardon, then doth a man truly 
offer this suit unto God with strong affection, 
*Lord, this is my request, that my sin may be for- 
given and prays it in faith, which is a more par- 
ticular laying hold on the promises, believing that 
he will forgive, and therefore waits for an answer, 
to hear that ' voice of joy and gladness,' as David 
speaks; to hear the word of his pardon from God 
spoke into his soul. And for this cause (besides 
the need of daily pardon for daily sins) the most 
godly men have need to renew this suit, that to- 
gether with pardon they may obtain the comfort- 
able persuasion and assurance of it ; and though 
they have some assurance, yet there be further de- 
grees of it possible and desirable, clearer evidences 
of reconcilement and acceptance with God. 

Forgiveness itself is indeed the main, and is often 
granted, where the other, the assurance of it, is 
withheld for a time ; but there is no question that 
we may, yea, that we ought to desire it, and seek 
after it. He is blessed that is pardoned, though as 
yet he know it not; yet doubtless it abates much of 



* Psalm xxxii. 



THE^ lord's prayer. 



119 



his happiness for the time that he does not know 
it.' 

As Aristotle the philosopher *ays, The poor 
man thinks him happy that is rich, and the sick 
man, him that is in health their own want makes 
them think so. Now this forg-iveness of sin is hap- 
piness indeed, yet a man must first feel the want of 
it before he judg-e so. But here is the difference, 
when he hath obtained it he shall think so still ; 
whereas the other, being tried, are found to fall 
short, and do not make any man happy. 

Seeing this is a request of so great moment, may 
we not wonder at ourselves, that are so cold and in- 
different in it ? But the true reason of this is, be- 
cause so few are truly sensible of this heavy debt, 
of the weight of sin unpardoned. A man that feels 
it not prays thus, not much troubling his thoughts 
whether it be granted or no; but he that is indeed 
pressed with the burden of sin, cries in earnest, 
" Lord, forgive." David knew what he said, when 
he called him ' blessed whose sin is forgiven the 
word is, that is ' unloaded of his sin.' He was a 
king, and a great captain, but he says not, he is a 
blessed man that w^ears a crown, or that is success- 
ful in war, but he whose sin is taken off his shoul- 
ders; whatsoever he is otherwise, he is a happy 
man : it is in vain to offer a conscience groaning 
under sin any thing else, until it be eased of that. 
If you should see a man lying grovelling under 
some weight that is ready to press him to death, 
and should bring sweet music to him, and cover a 
table with delicates before him, but let him lie still 

* Non est beatus, esse qui se non putet.— " A man cannot be 
bappy and not know it.'' 



120 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



under liis burden, could he (think you) take r^ny 
pleasure in those things? Were it not rather to 
mock liim to use him so ? 

And thouo'h we feel it not as troubled consciences 
do, yet we are truly miserable in all enjoyments, 
until this forgiveness be obtained. To what pur- 
pose daily bread, yea what is the greatest abun- 
dance of all outward things, but a glistering misery, 
if this be wanting ? But he that is once forgiven, 
and received into favour with God, what can befal 
him amiss ? Though he hath no more of the world 
but daily bread, and of the coarsest sort, he hath a 
continual feast within ; as he that said, Brown 
bread and the gospel is good fare." Now the gos- 
pel is the doctrine of this forgiveness of sin, and is 
herefore so sweet to an humbled sinner; yea, 
Jiough a man have not only a small portion oi 
earthly comforts, but be under diverse afflictions and 
chastisements, yet this makes him cheerful in all ; 
as Luther said, ''Strike, Lord Use me as thou 
wilt seeing thou hast forgiven my sin, all is well. 

Lastly, As there must be earnest desire in the re- 
quest, so wiirijal firm belief ; ' ask in faith.' If 
once thou art become an humble suitor for mercy, 
and that is the great desire of thy heart, that God 
would take away thy sin, and be reconciled to thee ; 
then know that he will not cast back thy petition in 
displeasure, now he is gracious; and whatsoever 
thou hast been, consider what he is. Doth he re- 
ceive any for any thing in themselves ? What is 
the cause he pardons any, is it not for his own 
name s sake ? ' And will not that reason serve for 
thee as much as others ^ Will it not avail for 



^ Isa. xliii. 25. 

i 



THE LORD'S PRAYER. 



121 



many sins, as well as for few ? Hast thou multi- 
plied sin often, abused bis mercy, but now mourn- 
est before bim for it? Then be will multiply to 
pardon.' Thou hast rebelled much, but be is thy 
Father, and hath the bowels of a father to a repent- 
ing child : and this style we give him in this prayer, 
as fitly urging all our suits. Father , forgive us our 
sins; therefore forgive, because thou art our Fa- 
ther. And then consider, that he that puts this 
petition, amongst the rest, in our mouths, bath satis- 
fied for believers, paid all their scores, and answered 
justice to the full; and in him we are forgiven. It 
is a free forgiveness to us, though he hatb paid for 
it ; and he himself was freely given to us, to under- 
take and satisfy for us. Yet let not any thus em- 
bolden themselves to sin ; this were the grossest 
impudence, to come to crave pardon of sin while 
we delight in it, and to desire it to be forgiven 
while we have no mind to part with it and forsake 
it ; for this privilege belongs only to repenting and 
returning sinners. 

As we forgive our debtors,'] This is added, botb 
as a fit motive for us to use with God, and a suitable 
duty that be requires of us. The former we may 
perceive in the manner that St. Luke hath it. For 
we also: as if he were to say, ''Thou, Lord, re- 
quirest of us to forgive others, and thou workest it 
in some of us to do so ; how much more then may 
we hope that thou wilt forgive us ? If there be any 
such goodness in us, it is from thee, and therefore 
is infinitely more in thyself, as the ocean of good- 
ness." 

Again, this is likewise a very profitable argument 



* Isa. Iv. 7 ; '^er. iii. 1. 



122 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



to move us to this duty, as we see clearly by our 
Saviour's returning to speak of it after the prayer. 
It is not only bound upon us by bis precept, but 
by our prayer. 

This (as) just as before, in the third petition, 
means not equality in the degree, but conformity 
in the thing. 

Now the request running thus, they that do not 
forgive their brethren, turn it into a most heavy 
curse to themselves, and in effect pray daily, " Lord, 
never forgive me my sin and whether they say 
thus or no, he will do thus, if we be such fools as 
not to accept of such an agreement. He hath infi- 
nite debt upon our heads, that we shall never be 
able to pay : now though there is no proportion, 
yet he is graciously pleased, without further reckon- 
ing, to forgive us all, and discharge us fully, if we 
accept (as it were) of this his letter of exchange, and 
for his sake forgive our brethren the few pence that 
at the most they can be owing us, in lieu of the 
thousands of talents that he acquits to us. And by 
this, as our certain evidence, we may be assured of 
our pardon, and rejoice in it, as our Saviour after 
clearly affirms; and therefore the contrary (which 
he likewise tells us) may well take our debates, and 
hatreds, and desires of revenge as a countersign, 
testifying unto us, that we are not forgiven at God's 
hands. 

And think not to satisfy him with superficial for- 
givenesses and reconcilements. Would we be con- 
tent of such pardon from God, to have only a pre- 
sent forbearance of revenge, or that he should not 
quarrel with us, but no further friendship with him ; 
that he should either use strangeness with us, and 
not speak to us, or only for fashion's sake ? And 



THE lord's prayer. 



123 



yet such are many of our reconcilements with our 
brethren. God's way of forc^iving is thorough and 
hearty, both to for^j-ive and to foroet.^ And if 
thine be not so, thou hast no portion in his. 

What a base miserable humour is this same de- 
sire of revenge, this spirit of malice that possesses 
men, who think themselves brave in it, that they for- 
give no injuries, can put up no affronts, as they 
speak ! Solomon was of another mind, and he was 
a king, and a wise king, and knew well enough 
what honour meant : ' It is the glory of a man to 
pass by a transgression,' said he. And we see infe- 
rior magistrates and officers may punish, but it is a 
part of the prerogative of kings to pardon ; it is 
royal to forgive, yea it is divine, it is to be like 
God. * Be you perfect, as your heavenly Father 
is perfect ;' and the perfection is, ' do good to them 
that persecute you,* &c. ' as he causeth the sun to 
shine on the just and unjust."* 

There is more true pleasure in forgiving, than 
ever any man found in revenge. Francis de Sales 
said, " That whereas men think it so hard a thing 
to forgive a wrong, he found it so sweet, that if the 
contrary were commanded him, he would have 
much ado to obey it." Were the law of love 
written in our hearts, it would be thus with us ; it 
would teach us effectually to forgive others, if we 
knew and found in our experience the boundless 
love of God in forgiving us. 

And lead us not into temptation, &c.] As the 
doctrine of divine mercy, mistaken and abused by 
carnal minds, emboldens them to sin ; so being 
rightly apprehended and applied, there is nothing 

V Jer. xxxi. 34. Matt. v. 45, 48. 



4 



124 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



more powerful to possess the heart with indig-na- 
tion against sin, and love of holiness : so that this 
request agrees most fitly with the former; where 
that is presented aright, the heart will be no less 
sincere and earnest in this other. The guiltiness 
of sin, and the prevailing power of it, are the two 
evils that the godly feel more than all other pres- 
sures in the world ; deliverance from both is jointly 
promised in the new covenant,^ and here jointly 
entreated in these two petitions. We shall ex- 
plain, 

1. What this temptation and evil is. 

2. What is meant by not lead into it, and to 
deliver. 

Temptation.'] In the original TreipacrpoQ' atrial;** 
that which gives proof of a man's strength and of 
his di^sposition, draws forth what is within him. 
And thus in most things we meet withal in the 
world, there is some tempting faculty to try us what 
we are, on the using of them ; but especially such 
things as are more eminent in their nature, that 
have much power with us. As eminent place and 
public charge try both the ability and integrity of 
men, afflictions try the faith and stability of men's 
minds. Injuries try whether they are truly meek 
and patient or no; they stir the water that was 
possibly clear at top, and so try whether it be not 
muddy at the bottom.^ 

But by temptation here are meant, occasions and 
provocations to sin. So likewise the word evil, 
in the other clause, is not to be taken for afflictions 
and crosses, but for the ' evil of sin,' or for that ' evil 

* Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. 

* Natura vexata prodit seipsam. — " Nature thus tried, shows 
what she is.'* 



THE lord's prayer. 



125 



one/ as he is called/ and that particularly in rela- 
tion to the evil of sin, wherein he hath so frequent 
and so ^reat a hand. 

There be outward thing's that are not in them- 
selves evil, and yet prove temptations to us, be- 
cause they meet with a depraved corrupt heart in 
us; as riches, and honour, and beauty, &c. and to 
intemperance, dainty meats, or the wine ^ when it 
is red in the cup/ as Solomon speaks; and i pon 
these men sometimes turn over the blame of thci' 
disorders, bat most foolishly. 

Other temptations and tempters there be without 
us, that are themselves evil, and by tempting par- 
take of our sin ; the profane example and customs 
of the world, ungodly men by their practices, and 
counsels, and enticements, drawing others to sin, 
putting others into the same mire wherein they are 
wallowing. 

But the most effectual tempter of all, is that 
which the apostle St. James gives up as the chief, 
and without which indeed none other could prevail; 
' Every man is tempted of his own concupiscence :* 
whosoever it is that begets it, that is the womb 
wherein all sin is conceived, and that ' brings it 
forth/ as he there adds ; yea, this were able of itself 
to be fruitful in sin, though there were not a devil 
to tempt it to it, and doth no doubt often tempt us 
without his help. 

Yet, because he is so continually busied in this 
work, is so constant a stickler in the greatest part 
of sins in the world, therefore it is not unlikely that 
this is particularly meant of him. 

Howsoever, he is out of doubt the greatest of all 



1 1 John, ii. 13 



126 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



outward tempters, (and therefore it is pertinent to 
consider his share in them ;) the most skilful, the 
most active and diligent, and he that manages all 
other kind of temptations against us, both such as 
are without us in the world, and, such as are within 
us : he works upon our own corruption, stirring and 
blowing it up by his suggestions, and sometimes 
throwing in balls of his own infernal fire, that are 
grievous and abominable to the soul into which he 
casts them. It is his name and profession, (o 
Tretpd^wv,) that great pirate, that robs upon all 
seas, that is every where catching the souls of men. 
And he is well seen in his trade ; a knowing spirit, 
that manifested his skill shrewdly in his first essay 
against man; that serpent's first poison killed the 
whole race of mankind ; and now he is perfected 
by long experience and practice, hath his methods, 
as arts after a time are drawn into method. He 
hath his topics, his several sorts of temptations for 
several tempers, and hath great insight into the 
subject he is to work upon, and so fits the one to 
the other. 

The profane that will be easily drawn to the 
grossest sins, he is not at the pains to find out other 
ways for them, but hurries them along in that high- 
way to destruction, using his advantage either of 
their gross ignorance or hardness of heart, &c. 
Others that are resolved to live outwardly blame- 
less, he endeavours to take and hold fast to himself 
by pride, and self-love, and malice, and covetous- 
ness, by formality in religion, unbelief; which 
are things, though smaller wrought than some 
others, yet that are as strong, and hold men as fast 
to be led captive at his will. 

And the godly, because they are escaped and set 



THE LORD'S PRAYRR. 



127 



free from his tyranny, and he is desperate of re- 
ducing them, yet because he can do no more, he is 
sure to be a perpetual vexation and trouble to them, 
so far as he is let loose ; he is most unwearied in 
his assaults, gives them no respite, {ov^e vlkCjv ovlk 
vLKwiievog) neither when he gains upon them, nor 
when he is foiled and repulsed. Let us next con- 
sider, 

2. What the request is, — not to be led into 
temptation, — and, to be delivered. 

Lead us not.'] Not that God doth solicit a man 
to sin, for that is most contrary to his most pure 
nature, as St. James tells us plainly, * He is neither 
so tempted, nor tempts he any :' but his leading 
into temptation is briefly, 1. To permit a man to 
be tempted. 2. To withdraw his grace, and so 
deliver up a man into the hand or power of the 
temptation. Now this is that we pray, that the 
Lord be pleased either to bear off assaults from us, 
and suffer us not to be tempted ; or if he let tempta- 
tion loose upon us, yet to give us the better, to 
order it so that it overcome us not. That which is 
here meant by leading, or carrying us into tempta- 
tion, is the prevailing of it, or leading us into a 
foil ; and this we pray, that he would not do, that 
if he do bring us into the conflict of a temptation 
he would not leave us there, but bring us fair off 
again ; and thus the whole petition runs, lead us 
not, hut deliver us. And in this it is, that he would 
foi'nish us with his own grace, the holy habits of 
grace to be within us, as a constant garrison. And 
then, that either he countermand our enemies from 
assaulting; or that they be such as overmatch not 
the strength he hath given us, but may be below 
it*'; or that he send us the auxiliary strength of 



28 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



supervenient assisting* grace to that we have, that 
howsoever strong the forces that come against us, 
they may be turned backward, and we may have 
the comfort, and he the glory of our victories. 

So then in this we are taught, 1. To know the 
danger wherein we are; that we live in the midst 
of enemies, and such as are strong and subtile, that 
we have the prince of darkness plotting against us, 
and the treacherous corruption of our own hearts 
ready to keep correspondence with him, and betray 
us to him. That he hath gins and snares laid for 
us in all our ways, (laqusos ubique, laqueos in ciho 
et pofu, cic. Anselm.) in our solitude and in our 
converse, in our eating and drinking, yea snares in 
our spiritual exercises, our hearing, preaching, 
prayer, &c. and therefore as he here teaches us to 
pray against them, we must join that, to watch 
against them. 2. To be sensible of our own weak- 
ness and insufficiency, either for avoiding or over- 
coming these dangers. 3. To know the all-suffi- 
cient strength of God, his sovereign povi^er over all 
adverse powers, that they are all under his com- 
mand, so that he can keep them off us, or subdue 
them under us as he pleaseth ; and so to have our 
recourse to this, and rest in it. The first of these 
considerations, if it take with us, will stir us up to 
watchfulness, and the other two will persuade to 
prayer; and these are the two great preservatives 
against temptation that our Saviour prescribes, 
* Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation : 
' watch,^ how can we sleep secure, and so many ene- 
mies that sleep not ? If we pray and watch not, 
we tempt God, and we lead ourselves into tempta- 
tion. It is our duty (mock the. word who will) to 
walk exactly or precisely, d/cptgwe, to look to every 



THE LORD S PRAYER. 



129 



step, to beware of the least sins: for they, 1. By 
multitude make up a great weight. 2. They prove 
usually introductions to greater sins : admit but 
some inordinate desire into your heart that you 
account a small matter, and it is a hundred to one 
but it shall prove a little thief got in, to open the 
door to a number of greater ; as the Rabbins speak, 
a less evil brings a man into the hands of a greater. 

2. Avoid not only sins but the incentives and 
occasions to sin ; as St. Chrysostom observes well 
that of our Saviour, * when they shall say, here is 
Christ, and there is Christ,' he says not, believe 
them not, but ' go not forth to see and Solomon s 
instruction for avoiding tlie allurements of the 
strange woman, says not only, ' go not in,' but* come 
not near the door of her house/ The way of sin is 
down hill {motus in proclivi ;) a man cannot stop 
where he would, and he that will be tampering with 
dangerous occasions, in confidence of his resolution, 
shall find himself oflen carried beyond liis purpo5?e. 
If you pray, then watch too ; but as that word 
commands our diligence, so this imports our weak- 
ness in ourselves, and our strength to be in another, 
that as we watch we must pray, and without this 
we shall watch in vain, and be a prey to our enemy. . 
Truly had we no power beyond our own, w^e might 
give over, and be hopeless of coming through to 
salvation ; so many eneuiies and hazards in the 
way. Alas ! might a Christian say, looking upon 
the multitude of temptations without, and corrup- 
tions within himself, and the w^eakness of the grace 
he hath, " How can this be ? Shall I ever attain 
my journey's end ?" But again, w^hen he looks up- 
ward, and lifts his eyes above his difficulties, be- 
holds the strength of God engaged for him, directs 

K 



130 



AN EXPOSITEON OF 



his prayers to him for help, and is assured to find 
it ; this upholds him, and answers all. There is a 
roaring lion that seeks to devour, but there is a 
strong rescuing lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah, 
that will deliver. ' The God of peace/ says the 
apostle, ' will bruise Satan under your feet shortly/ 
He says not, we shall bruise him under our feet, 
but God shall do it; yet he says not, he shall 
bruise him under his own feet, but under yours ; 
the victory shall be ours, though wrought by him ; 
and he shall do it shortly; wait a while and it shall 
be done : and ' the God of peace/ because he is Hhe 
God of peace/ he shall subdue that grand disturber 
of your peace, and shall give you a perfect victory, 
and after it, endless peace ; he shall free you of his 
trouble and molestation. Grace is a stranger here, 
and therefore hardly used, and hated by many foes ; 
but there is a promise of a new heaven and a new 
earth, where dwells righteousness: there it shall be 
at home, and quiet, no spoiling nor robbery in all 
that holy mountain. 

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the 
glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 

This pattern (we know) is the line under which 
all our prayers ought to move, all our requests to 
be conform to it; and are certainly out of their 
way, when they decline and wander from it. And 
if we observe it, we may clearly perceive it is a cir- 
cular line; as indeed the exercise of prayer is a 
heavenly motion, circular as that of the heavens, 
begins and ends in the same point, the glory of 
that God to whom we pray, and who is the God 
that heareth prayer. In that point this prayer be- 
gins, and here ends in it, so that our requests that 
concern ourselves are cast in, in the middle, that all 



THE LORB's prayer. 



131 



our desires may move within this circle ; though 
the things we pray for concern ourselves, yet are 
not to terminate in ourselves but in him, who is 
alpha and omega, the beginning and end of all 
things; to desire not only the blessings ofthis life, 
but the blessedness of the life to come, more for his 
glory than for our own good. 

This is genuine and pure love of God, in the 
pardon of our sins and salvation, to rejoice more in 
the glory of divine mercy, than in our own personal 
happiness ; thus it shall be with us, when we shall 
be put in possession of it, and we ought to aspire 
to that measure of the same mind that can be at- 
tained here, while we are in the desire and hopes of 
it. 

For thine is the kingdom.'] Though this clause is 
left out in divers translations, and w^anting in some 
Greek copies, yet it is so agreeable to the nature of 
prayer, and the perfection of this prayer, that we 
ought not to let it pass unconsidered. 

There is in it an enforcement of our prayer, but 
especially it is a return of praise ; " Good reason 
we desire earnestly the sanctifying of thy name, 
and coming of thy kingdom, and obedience to thy 
will, seeing these are so peculiarly due to thee, 
namely, kingdom, and power, and glory ; and see- 
ing thou art so great and rich a King, may we not 
crave with confidence at thy hands all needful 
good things to be bestowed on us, and that all evil 
may be averted from us, that we may find thee 
gracious to us, both in giving and forgiving ; and 
as in forgiving us the guiltiness of sin, so in freeing 
us from the power of sin, and preserving us from 
the power of our spintual enemies that would draw 

k2 



132 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



US into sin ? We are under thy royal protection, 

we are thy subjects, yea, thy children ; thou art our 
King and Father, so that thy honour is engaged for 
our defence. Whatsoever sum our debts amount 
to, they are not too great for such a King to forgive ; 
they cannot rise above thy royal goodness; and 
whatsoever be our enemies, all their force is not 
above thy sceptre : though they be strong, too 
strong for us, yet thou art much more too strong 
for them, for power is thine; and this we know, 
that all the good thou doest us, will bring back 
^lory to thy name, and it is that we most desire, 
and that which is thy due; the glory is thine." 

Thus we see all our places of argument for our 
requests are in God, none of them in ourselves; as 
vve find this in the prayers of the prophets, * for 
shine own glory, and for thine own name's sake ;' 
nothing in ourselves to move God by, but abund- 
ance of misery, and that moves not but by reason 
of his bounty; so still the cause of his hearing, 
and the argument of our entreating, is in himself 
alone. Were it not thus, how could we hope to 
prevail with him ? yea, how durst we offer to come 
unto him ? It is well for us there is enough in 
himself both to encourage us to come, and to 
furnish us with motives to persuade him by, that 
we come not in vain. Moses had not a word to say 
for the people in themselves, such was their carriage, 
his mouth was stopped that way ; yet he doth not 
let go this, "What wilt thou do with thy mighty 
name ? It is true they have trespassed, yet if thou 
destroy them, thy name will suffer. Lord, consider 
and regard that :" and we know the success of it. 
Thus a Christian for himself, "Lord, I am most 



THE lord's prayer. 



133 



unworthy of all those things I request of thee; but 
whatsoever I am, thou art a liberal and mighty 
King, and it is thy glory to do good freely, therefore 
it is that I come unto thee ; my necessities drive 
me to thee, and thy goodness draws me, and the 
poorer and wretcheder I am, the greater will be thy 
glory in helping me." 

But it is withal an extolling and praising 
the greatness of God, and so we are to consider 
it. 

Thine is the kingdom.'] Other kings and king- 
doms there be, but they are as nothing, they de- 
serve not the naming in comparison of thine ; they 
are but kings of little mole-hills : to the bounds 
of thy dominion, the greatest kingdoms of the 
world are but small parcels of this globe of earth, 
and itself all together, to the vast circumference of 
the heavens, is as nothing, loses all sensible great- 
ness. This point that men are so busy dividing 
among them with fire and sword, what if one man 
had the sovereignty of it all ? He and his kingdom 
both were nothing to thine ; for sea and land, earth 
and heaven, and all the creaturt s in them all, 
the whole, all is thine ; thou art T^ord of heaven 
and earth, and therefore the kingdom is thine. As 
all other kingdoms are less than thine, so they hold 
of thine, thine is supreme; all the crowns and 
sceptres of the earth hang at thy footstool.^' All 
kings owe their homage to this great King, and he 
disposeth of their crowns absolutely and uncon- 
trolled as he will; he enthrones and dethrones at 
his pleasure, throws down one and sets up another ; 
as we have a great monarch confessing it at length, 
upon his own experience, being brought down 



134 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



from his throne, on purpose to learn this lesson, 
and was seven years in learning it.* 

T'he power. ^ The creatures have among them 
several degrees and several kinds of power, but 
none of them, nor all of them together have all 
power; this is Gods. He is all-powerful in him- 
self, primitively powerful, and all the power of the 
creatures is derived from him ; he is the fountain 

power. So that whatsoever power he hath given 
unto men, or any other creature, he hath not given 
away from himself; it is still in himself more than 
in them, and at his pleasure he can call it back, 
and withdraw the influence of it, and then they re- 
main weak and powerless. And when he gives 
them power, he useth and disposeth of both them 
and their power as seems him good; therefore his 
style is, * the Lord of hosts.' He can command 
more armies than all the kings and princes of the 
earth, from the most excellent to the meanest of 
the creatures; all are his trained bands, from the 
hosts of glorious spirits, to the very armies of 
grasshoppers and flies ; and you know, that as an 
in gel was employed against the Egyptians, so like- 
wise these contemptible creatures were upon ser- 
vice there too, and being armed with commission, 
and with power from God, did perform the service 
upon which they were sent so effectually, that the 
wisest of heathens were forced to confess, 'this is 
the finger of God.' 

This is the Lord to whom we address our prayers, 
that cannot fail in any thing for want of power, for 
he doth what he will in heaven and in earth. 



' Dan. iv. 34. 



THE lord's prayer. 



135 



Glory.'] In these two consists mainly the emi- 
nency of kings, in their power and their majesty ; 
but they exceed not the meanest of their subjects, 
so fiir as this King surpasseth the greatest of them 
in both. 1. * Clothed with both majesty and 
strength/ ' They are often resisted, and cut short of 
their designs for want of sufficient power, and are 
the best of them often driven to straits ; sometimes 
men, sometimes money or munition, or some other 
necessary help is wanting, and so their enterprizes 
fall behind ; but this King can challenge and defy 
all oppositions : ' I work,' says he, ' and who shall 
let it?' 

And as their power, so their majesty and glory 
is infinitely short of his : he ' is the King of Glory,* 
as the Psalmist styles him, alone truly glorious, 
both in the excellency of his own nature, and the 
extrinsical glory that arises to him out of his works. 
Of the former we can know but little here, for that 
light wherein he dwells is to us inaccessible; but 
this we know, that he is infinitely above all the 
praises even of those that do behold him. Likewise 
how unspeakable is that glory that shines in his 
works ! in the framing of the whole world, and in 
the upholding and ruling of it from the beginning I 
in which appear the two former that are here 
ascribed to him, his kingdom and his power, and so 
this third, his glory, springs out of both. Then, if 
we consider the glorious attendance that is con- 
tinually about his throne, as the scriptures describe 
it to us, it drowns all the pomp of earthly thrones 
and courts in their highest degree.' 



' Fsalm xciii. !• 



2 Rev. iv. 



136 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



For ever.] This kingdom, and power, and glory 
of God, besides their transcendant greatness, have 
this advantage beyond all other kingdoms, and 
power, and glory, that his are * for ever and ever :' 
all other are perishing, nothing but pageants and 
shows that appear for awhile, and pass along and 
vanish. It was a wise word of a king, (especially 
at such a time,) when he was riding in a stately 
triumph, and asked by one of his courtiers, think- 
ing to please him, "What is wanting here?" he 
answered, Continuance." Where are all the mag- 
nific kings that have reigned in former ages ? 
Where is their power and their pomp ? Is it not 
past like a dream ? And not only are the kings 
gone, but the kingdoms themselves, the greatest in 
the world fallen to nothing; they had tbeir time 
of rising, and again of declining, and are buried 
in the dust: that golden-headed image had brittle 
feet, and that was the ruin and break of it all. 
But this kingdom of the Most High is an ever- 
lasting kingdom, and his glory and power abide for 
ever. Not only things on earth decay, but the very 
' heavens wax old as a garment,^ says the Psalmist, 
* but thou, O liord, art still the same, and thy 
years have no end.^ 

1. It is a thing of very great importance for us 
to have our hearts established in the belief of these 
things, and to be frequent in remembering and 
considering them; to know that the kingdom is the 
Lord s, that he sovereignly rules the world, and all 
things in it, and particularly the great affairs of 
his church ; that he is the mighty God, and there- 
fore that there is no power, or wisdom, nor counsel 
of men, able to prevail against him ; and that in 



THE lord's prayer. 



137 



those things wherein his glory seems to suffer for 
the present, it shall gain and be advanced in the 
closure. 

2. Let us always, and in all things, return this 
to him as his peculiar due : "Thine is the glory, it 
belongs to thee, and to none other.'' ^ 

3. Let us think most reverently of God : O 
that we could attain to esteeming thoughts of him, 
to think more of his greatness and excellency be- 
yond all the world ! It is our great folly to admire 
any thing but God ; this is because we are ignorant 
of him; certainly he knows not God, that thinks 
any thing great beside him. 

Amen.'} In this word concentre all the requests, 
and are put up together ; ' so be it/ And there is 
in it withal (as all observe) a profession of confi- 
dence that it shall be so. It is from one root with 
those words that signify believing and truth ; the 
truth of God's promises persuades belief, and it 
persuades to hope for a gracious answer of prayer. 
And this is the excellent advantage of the prayer 
.of faith, that it quiets and establishes the heart in 
God, Whatsoever be its estate and desire, when 
once he hath put his petition into God's hand, he 
rests content in holy security and assurance con- 
cerning the answer, refers it to the wisdom and love 
of God, how and when he will answer ; not doubt- 
ing that whatsoever it be, and whensoever, it shall 
both be gracious and seasonable. But the reason 
why so few of us find that sweetness and comfort 
that is in prayer, is, because the true nature and 
use of it is so little known. 



• Deo quae Dei sunt. — " To God the things which are God's.* 



AH 



EXPOSITION 

OF THE 

TEN COMMANDMENTS. 



AN 

EXPOSITION, &c. 



ExOD. XX. 1. 

God spake all these words, saying. 

It is the character of the blessed man, and the way 
of blessedness, 'to delight in the law of God.'* 
And because the eye is often upon that whereon 
the affection and delight of the heart is set, the 
sign of that delight in the law is, to have the eye of 
the mind much upon it, ' to meditate on it day and 
night/ And that we may know this is not, as the 
study of many things are, empty speculation and 
fruitless barren delight, we are further taught the 
soul (as fixed in this delight and meditation) is a 
tree well planted, and answerably fruitful. The 
mind that is set upon this law, is fitly set for bear- 
ing fruit, 'Planted by the rivers of water;' and is 
really fruitful, * bringing forth its fruit in his 
season.' 

If this holds true of the law in the largest sense, 
taken for the whole will of God revealed in his 



* Psalm i. 



142 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



word, it is no doubt particularly verified in that 
which more particularly bears the name of ' the 
law this same summary of the rule of man's life, 
delivered by the Lord himself, after so singular a 
manner, both by word and writ. 

So then, the explication of it being needful for 
the ignorant, it will be likewise profitably delight- 
ful for those that be most knowing and best ac- 
quainted with it ; it is a rich mine, that we can 
never dig to the bottom of He is called the 
' blessed man,' that is still digging and seeking 
further into the riches of it, ' meditating on it day 
and night.' His work going forward in the night, 
when others cease from working. 

We have in the creed, the object of faith ; in tlie 
law, the exercise and trial of love : ' for love is the 
fulfilling of the law ;' and, ' If ye love me, keep my 
commandments,* saith our Saviour. And prayer 
is the breathing of hope, or, as the schoolmen call 
it, interpretatio spei. Thus, in these three summa- 
ries are the matter of the three prime theological 
virtues, faith, hope, and charity. 

The law rightly understood addresses us to the 
articles of our faith: for seeing the disproportion of 
our best obedience to the exactness of the law, this 
drives us to seek salvation in the Gospel by believ- 
ing; and our natural inability to believe, drives us 
to prayer, that we may obtain faith and perseve- 
rance in it, at his hands who is both the first author 
and finisher of our faith. 

The preparation enjoined the people, teacheth 
the holiness of this law ; the fire, and thunder, and 
lightning, and upon these, the fear of the people, 
testify the greatness and majesty of the Lawgiver, 
and withal his power to punish the transgressors of 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



143 



it, and justice that will punish ; that, as he showed 
his presence by fire seen in delivering" this law, so 
he is (as the apostle teacheth us, alludin^^ to this) 
'a consuming fire' to them that neglect and disobey 
it. The limits set about the mount, that they 
might not approach it, even after all their endea- 
vour of sanctifying and preparing, read humility 
to us; teaching us our great distance from the holi- 
ness of our God, even when we are most holy and 
exactest in our preparations. Next, 

Sobriety [(ppopsiv eIq to (T(i)(j)pove'ir,) not to pry 
into hidden things,^ to hear what is revealed to us, 
and commanded us, and to exercise ourselves in 
that. 'Hidden things belong unto God,' &c. And 
lastly, that the law of itself is the ministration of 
death, and hath nothing but terror in it, till the 
Messiah the Mediator appear, and the soul by his 
perfect obedience be accounted obedient to the 
law ; but we must not insist on this now. 

God spake.] The preface is twofold. 1. That 
of Moses. 2. Of God himself. 

These ivords,'] Ten words.^ 'He added no more.' 
Hence we may learn, (1.) The perfection of this 
law, that no more was needful to be added. (2.) 
The excellency of it, being so short and yet so per- 
fect. For as it is the excellency of all speech, as 
of coin, (as Plutarch hath it,) to contain much in 
little, most value in smallest quantity ; so espe- 
cially of laws that they be brief and full. 

That we may the better conceive of the perfec- 
tion of this law, we must not forget these rules that 

* Scrutator majestatis opprimetur a gloria.—" The intruder 
into majesty shall be oppressed by its glory." 
« Exod. xxxiv. 28, and Deut. v. 22. 



144 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



divines give for the understanding of it in its due 
latitude. (1.) That the prohibitions of sin contain 
the commands of the contrary good; otherwise the 
number of precepts would have been too great. 
And on the contrary, (2.) Under the name of any 
one sin, all homoo^eneoas, or sins of that kind are 
forbidden. (3.) All the inducements and occasions 
of sin, things that come near a breach, to be 
avoided ; that which the Rabbins call the hedge of 
the law, not to be broken. They that do always 
that they lawfully may, sometimes do more. (4.) 
It is spiritual; hath that prerogative above all hu- 
man laws, reaches the heart, and all the motions of 
it as w^ell as words and actions. This supreme Law- 
giver alone can see the behaviour of the heart, and 
alone is able to punish all that offend, so much as 
in thought. It were a vain thing for men to give 
laws to any, more than that they can require ac- 
count of and correct, which is only the superfice 
and outside of human actions. But he that made 
the heart, doth not only give his law to it, but to it 
principally, and examines vll actions there in their 
source and beginning; and therefore oftentimes that 
which men applaud and reward, and do well in so 
doing, he justly hates and punishes. 

God spake.'] All that was spoken by his messen- 
gers the prophets, with warrant from him, was his 
word ; they but the trumpets which the breath of his 
mouth, his Spirit, made to sound as it pleased 
him : but this, his moral law, he privileged with his 
own immediate delivery. Men may give some few 
rules for society and civil life, by the dark light 
that remains in natural consciences; but such a 
rule as may direct a man to answer bis natural end, 
and lead him to God, must come from himself. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



145 



All the purest and wisest laws that men have com- 
piled cannot reach that ; they can go no higher in 
their course, than they are in their spring; ' That 
which is from the earth is earthly/ saith our Sa- 
viour. 

He added to this speaking, the writing of them 
likewise himself in tables of stone, that they might 
abide, and be conveyed to after ages. At first they 
were written in the heart of man by God's own 
hand ; but as the first tables of stone fell and were 
broken, so was it with man's heart, by his fall his 
heart was broken, and scattered amongst the earthly 
perishing things, that was before whole and entire to 
his Maker; and so the characters of that law writ- 
ten in it, were so shivered and scattered, that they 
could not be perfectly and distinctly read in it. 
Therefore it pleased God to renew that law after 
this manner, by a most solemn delivery with audi- 
ble voice, and then by writing it on tables of stone. 
And this is not all, but this same law he doth write 
anew in the hearts of his children. 

Why it pleased him to defer this solemn promul- 
gation of the law to this time, and at this time to 
give it to a select people only; these are arcana im- 
perii indeed, which we are not to search into, but to 
magnify his goodness to us, that he hath showed us 
the path of life, revealing to us both the precepts of 
this law, and the grace and promises of the gos- 
pel. 

It was the all-wise God that spake all these words, 
therefore he knew well his own aim and purpose in 
them, and doth certainly attain it. 

It was not indeed that this law might be the ade- 
quate and complete means of man's happiness, 
that by perfect obedience to it he might be saved ; 

L 



146 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



for the law is weak for this, not in itself, but 
through the flesh/ altogether impossible for it 
alone to save us, because impossible for us to 
fulfil it. 

But it doth profit us much if we look aright 
upon it. 1. It discovers us to ourselves, and so 
humbles us, frees us from the pride that is so natu- 
ral to us in the midst of our great poverty and 
wretchedness : for, when we see how pure the law 
is, and we compared with it to be all filthiness and 
defilement, ' our best righteousness,' as Isaiah 
says ^as filthy rags/ this causeth us to abhor our- 
selves : whereas naturally we are abused with self- 
love, and self-flattery arising from it. The point 
of the law (as they in the Acts were said to be 
pricked in their hearts) pricks the heart, that is 
swelled and puflfed up with pride, and makes it 
fall low in sense of vileness. 

2. As this discovery humbles us in ourselves, it 
drives us out of ourselves. This glass showing us 
our pollution, sends us to ^ the fountain opened.* 
When we perceive that by the sentence of the law, 
there is nothing for us but death, this makes us 
hearken diligently to the news of redemption and 
pardon proclaimed in the gospel, and hastens us to 
the Mediator of the new covenant. As the spouse 
was then singularly rejoiced to find her beloved, 
when she had been beaten and hardly used by re- 
proaching, the soul is then gladdest to meet with 
Christ, when it is hardest buffetted with the ter- 
rors and threatening of the law. 

His promise of ease and refreshment sounds 
sweet after the thunderings and lightnings of 



* Rom. viii.3. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



147 



Mount Sinai. A man will never go to Christ so 
long- as he is not convinced of misery without him, 
of im potency in himself, and in all others to help 
him. 

3. It restrains the wickedness even of ungodly 
men ; the brightness of it makes them sometimes 
ashamed of those works of darkness, which other- 
wise they would commit without check ; and the 
terrors of it affright them sometimes from that 
which they would otherwise commit without shame. 

4. But chiefly it serves for a rule and square 
of life to the godly; ' A light to their feet,' as 
David says, ' and a lantern to their paths." Either 
they have no rule of life, (which is impious and 
unreasonable to think,) or this is it. Christ came 
not to dissolve it, but to accomplish and establish 
it; and he did carefully free it from the injurious 
glosses of the Pharisees, and taught the right sense 
and force of it.^ He obeyed it both in doing and 
suffering, both performing what it requires, and in 
our stead undergoing what it pronounces against 
those that perform it not. It is a promise primely- 
intended for the days of the gospel, as the apostle 
applies, ' I will write my law in their hearts.' It 
is a weak conceit arising upon the mistake of the 
scriptures, to make Christ and Moses as opposites; 
no, Moses was the servant in the house, and Christ 
the Son; and being a faithful servant, he is not 
contrary to the Son, but subordinate to him. The 
very abolishment of the ceremonial law was not as 
of a thing contrary, but as a thing accomplished in 
Christ, and so was an honourable abolishment. 
And the removing of the curse and rigour of 
the moral law from us, was without wrong to it, 

» Matt. V. 

L 2 



148 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



being satisfied in a better for us, our surety Jesus 
Christ. 

They are happy that look so on the law of God, 
as to be made sensible of misery by it, and by that 
made earnest in their desires of Christ; and that 
judge themselves, the more evidence they have of 
freedom from the curse of the law, to be not the 
less, but so much the more obliged to obey the 
law. They are still making progress and going on in 
that way of obedience, though it be with continual 
halting, and often stumbling, and sometimes fall- 
ing; yet they shall certainly attain their journey's 
end, that perfection whereof they are so desirous. 

This were the way to lowliness, not to compare 
ourselves with others, in which too many are often 
partial judges, but with this holy law. We use not 
to try the evenness of things with our crooked 
stick, but by the straightest rule that we can find 
Thus St. Paul, ' The law is spiritual, I am car- 
nal.' He looks not how much he was more spi- 
ritual than other men, but how much less spritual 
than the law. 

/ am the LoriL^ This is the truest and most 
constant obedience, which flows jointly from re- 
verence and love. These two are the very wheels 
upon which obedience moves. And these first 
words of the law are most fit and pow erful to work 
these two; Jehovah, Sovereign Lord to be feared 
and reverenced; thy God; and then, that hath 
wrought such a deliverance for thee : therefore in 
both these respects most worthy of the highest 
love. 

This preface cannot stand for a commandment, 
as some would have it : for expressly it commands 
nothing, though by inference it enforc all the 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



149 



commandments, and is indeed so intended. Though 
it may be conceived to have a particular tie with 
the first commandment which follows it immedi- 
ately, yet certainly it is withal a most fit preface to 
them ail, and hath a persuasive influence unto thera 
all ; commanding' attention and obedience, not in 
the low way of human rhetoric, but {sfilo impera- 
torlo) in a kingly phrase, becoming- the majesty of 
the King of kings; ' 1 am Jehovah/ 

Here we have three motives to obedience, 1. His 
universal sovereignty, Jehovah. 2. His particular 
relation to his own people, thy God, 3. The late 
singular mercy bestowed on them, that hrought 
thee out of the land of Egypt. Each of them suffi- 
cient, and therefore all together most strongly con- 
cluding for obedience to his commandments. 

1. Jehovah. Not to insist on the ample consi- 
deration of this name of God, of which divines, both 
Jewish and Christian, have said so much, some 
more cabalistically and curiously, others more so- 
berly and solidly. This they agree in, that it is the 
incommunicable name of the Divine Majesty, and 
signifies the primitiveness of bis being, and his 
eternity ; that his being is not derived, but is in and 
from himself ; and that all other being is from him : 
that he is from everlasting to everlasting in him- 
self, without any difference of time ; but as eternity 
is expressed to our conceiving, 'He who is, and 
who was, and who is to come. Alpha and Omega.' 

Now it is most reasonable that, seeing all things, 
mankind, and all the creatures that serve for his 
good, receive their being from him, we likewise 
receive laws from him. 

2. His majesty is alone absolute and indepen- 
dent ; and all the powers of the worlds the greatest 



L50 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



princes and kings, hold their crowns of him, are 
his vassals, and owe obedience to his laws, as much 
as their meanest subjects ; that I say not more, in 
regard of the particular obligation that their ho- 
nour and eminency given them by him, doth lay 
upon them. 

3. Jehovah, What are the numerous styles where- 
in princes delight and glory so much, but a vain 
noise of nothing in comparison of his name, 'Tam!' 
And in all their grandeur, they are low petty majes- 
ties, when mention is made of this Jehovah, ' who 
stretched forth the heavens, and laid the founda- 
tions of the earth, and formed the spirit of man 
within him/^ What gives a man, when he gives 
all the obedience he can, and gives himseif in obe- 
dience to God ? What gives he him, but what he 
hath first received from him, and therefore owes it 
all as soon as he begins to be ? 

This authority of the Lawgiver is the very life 
of the law ; it is that we so readily forget, and that 
is the cause of all disobedience, and therefore the 
Lord inculcates it often, Levit. xix. 36, 37. ' I am 
the Lord,' ver. 31, and again repeated, ver. 37. 

This is the apostle St. James's argument, by 
which he strongly proves his conclusion, that * he 
that transgresseth in one, is guilty of all.' He urges 
not the concatenation of virtues, in themselves, 
though there is truth and force in that; he that hath 
one hath all ; and so, he that wants any one hath 
none. But the sameness of the authority is his 
medium, ' for he that said. Thou shalt not com- 
mit adultery, said also. Thou shalt not kill.'^ The 
authority is the same, and equal in all. The golden 



' Zach. xii. 1 



' James, ii. 10, 11. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



151 



thread, on which these pearls are strung, if it be 
broke in any one part, it scatters them all. This 
name of God sig"nifying" his authority, keeps the 
whole frame of the law together, and if that be 
stirred, it fills all asunder. 

4. Thy God,] Necessity is a strong but a hard 
argument, if it go alone. The sovereignty of God 
ties all, either to obey his law, or undergo the 
punishment. But love is both strong and sweet : 
where there sounds love in the command, and the 
relation of the commander, there it is received and 
cheerfully obeyed by love. Thus then, Thy 
God, in covenant with thee," cannot but move 
thee. 

We see then the gospel interwoven with the law; 
Hhy God' often repeated, which is by the new cove- 
nant, and that by a Mediator. God expects obedi- 
ence from his peculiar people; it is their glory and 
happiness that they are his. It adds nothing to 
him, but much every way to them : he is pleased 
to take it as glory done to him, to take him to be 
our God, and doth really exalt and honour those 
that do so, with the title and privileges of his peo- 
ple.* If his own children break his law, he cannot 
but take that worse. 

5. Who brought thee out of the land of Egypt,'] 
By the remembrance of their late great deliverance, 
he mollifies their hearts to receive the impression 
of this law. 

Herein was the peculiar obligement of this peo- 
ple; but ours, typified by this, is not less, but un- 
speakably greater, from the cruel servitude of sin, 
and the prince of darkness ; from these we are de- 



' Deut. ii. 17, 18. 



152 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



livered, not to licentiousness and libertinism, but to 
true liberty. *If the Son make you free, you shall 
be free indeed.' ^Delivered from the power of our 
enemies.' To what end P * To serve him without 
fear/ ^ — that terror which we would be subject to, 
if we were not delivered ; and to serve him * all the 
days of our lives and that all, if many hundred 
times longer than it is, yet too little for him. It is 
not such a servitude as that of Egypt from which 
we are delrvered, that ended to each one with his 
life; but the misery from which we are redeemed 
begins but in the fulness of it when life ends, and 
endures for ever. 

The gospel sets not men free to profaneness ; no, 
it is a doctrine of holiness: ' We are not called to 
uncleanness, but to holiness,' saith the apostle. He 
hath indeed taken off the hardness, the iron yoke, 
and now his commandments are not grievous, 'His 
yoke is easy, and his burden light ;' and they that 
are most sensible, and have most assurance of their 
deliverance, are ever the most active and fruitful in 
obedience; they feel themselves light and nimble, 
having the heavy chains and fetters taken off : 
* Lord, I am thy servant, thou hast loosed my 
bonds.* ^ And the comfortable persuasion of their 
redemption, is that * oil of gladness' that supples 
and disposes them to run the way of God's com- 
mandments. 



1 1 Luke, i. 74. 



^ Psalm cxvi. 16. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



163 



PRECEPT I. 

Thou shall have no other Gods before me. 

The first thing in religion is to state the object of 
it right, and to acknowledge and receive it for such. 
This, I confess, is the intent of this first precept 
of the law, which is therefore the basis and founda- 
tion that bears the weight of all the rest; and there- 
fore, as we said before, though the preface looks to 
them all, yet it looks first to this that is nearest it, 
and is knit wdth it, and through it to all the rest. 
The preface asserted his authority as the strength 
of his law; and this first precept commands the ac- 
knowledgment and embracing of that his authority, 
and his alone, as God. And this is the spring of 
our obedience to all his commandments. 

But before a particular explication of this, a 
word, 1. Of the division of this law. 2. The style 
of it. 

I. Division, That they were divided, 1, Into two 
tables. 2. Into ten words or commandments, none 
can question. We have the Lawgiver's own testi- 
mony clear for that; but about the particular way 
of dividing them into ten, and the matching of these 
two divisions together, there hath been and still is 
some difference ; but this I not insist on. 

Though Joseph us and Philo the Jew would (to 
make the number equal) have five precepts in each 
table ; yet the matter of them is more to be re- 
garded, and persuades the contrary, that those that 
concern piety, our duty to God, be in the first 
table; and those together in the second that con^ 



164 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



cern equity, or our duty to man ; and the summary 
that our Saviour gives of the tw^o tables is evidently 
for this. And that those precepts of piety, those 
of the first table, are four, and they of the second, 
six. And so, that the first and second, as we have 
them, are different and make two, and the tenth but 
one, hath the voice both of antiquity and reason, as 
many divines on the Decalogue do usually evince 
at large ; which therefore were as easy as it is need- 
less to do over again. 

The mud of the Romish church to the contrary, 
is plainly impudent presumption and partiality, 
choosing rather to blot out the law, than reform 
their manifest breach of it. 

2. That I would say of the style of the command- 
ments, is but in this one particular, briefly : We 
see the greatest part of them are prohibitive, or (as 
we usually call them, though somewhat impro- 
perly) negative. ' Thou shalt not,' &c. This, as 
is observed by Calvin and others, intimates our na- 
tural bent and inclinement to sin, that it suffices 
not to show us what ought to be done, but we are 
to be held and bridled by countermands from the 
practices of ungodliness and unrighteousness. 

Thou shalt not have, &c.] This order here, and 
so in the rest, 1. The scope. 2. The sense of the 
words. 3. What it forbids. 4. What it commands : 
and these follow each upon other; for o,ut of the 
scope the sense is best gathered, and from that the 
breach and observation. 

As the second commandment concerns the solemn 
form of divine worship, that it be not such as we 
devise, but as himself appoints; the third, the 
qualification or manner of it, not vainly and pro- 
fanely, but with holy reverence ; the fourth, the 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



155 



solemn time set apart for it, the Sabbath ; so, this 
first precept aims at somewhat which is previous to 
all these. 

Many distinguish tins and the second, by the in- 
ternal and externa] worship; and a grave modern 
divine, espying some defect in that, doth it by natural 
and instituted worship. But I confess, both omit, 
at least they express not (it may be they take it as 
implied) that which is mainly intended, the object 
of worship; that the Jehovah who gave, and him- 
self spake this law, be received and acknowledged 
for the only true God, and so the only object of 
divine worship. And this is that which he calls 
natural worship, that primitive worship, the religi 
ous habitude of man to God, giving himself entire, 
outward and inward, to his service and obedience; 
for this is no other but to own him, and him only, 
for that Deity to whom ail love and worship and 
praise is due. 

It is surely not so convenient to restrain this pre- 
cept to inward worship only, for each precept binds 
the whole man to obedience ; and therefore I would 
not give the first motions of concupiscence in gene- 
ral, for the sense of the tenth commandment, as we 
shall show when we come to speak of that. Cer- 
tainly, even outward worship given to a false god 
breaks this first commandment. 

The scope then is briefly, that the only true God 
be alone acknowledged for what he is, and (as we 
are able, with all our powers and parts inwardly 
and outwardly,) that he be answerably adored; 
that we neither change him for any other, nor join 
any other with him, nor be neglective and slack in 
honouring and obeying him: so that, as we are 



156 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



particularly, by each several precept, instructed :n 
and obliged to the particular duties of it, by this 
we are generally tied to give obedience to them all. 
It is no way inconvenient, but most fit in this 
general notion, that this first commandment import 
the observance of itself, and of all the rest. 

II. The sense of the words, ihou shalt not have: 
in the Hebrew it is, there shall not be to thee. 

(1. Erit tibi Dens,) Thou shall have a God, 
Know and believe that there is a Deity. 2. Seek to 
know which is the true God, that thou mayst ac- 
knowledge him. 3, ^*Know me as I have revealed 
myself in my word ; know and believe that I, 
Jehovah, the author and deliverer of this law, — 
T am God, and there is none else."^ 4. "Offer not 
therefore either to forsake me, or to join any other 
with me ; alienate no part of my due from me, for 
my glory I will not give unto another." 5. Take 
me for thy God ; and give service, and honour, and 
thyself unto me.'^ 

Be fore my face.'] " Set them not up in my sight, 
for I cannot suffer them, nor their worshippers ; if 
they come into my sight they will provoke me to 
anger." The word here for face, sometimes signi- 
fies anger in Scripture; and it seems to allude to 
his clear manifestation of himself to his people in 
the delivery of the law, and further to clear the 
doctrine of pure and true religion shining in the 
law, which is, as it were, the light of the face of 
God : in which regard, the nations that knew him 
not, may be said not to have their gods before his 
face ; for though he see them, they saw not him. 



* Isaiah xliv. 8. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



157 



Again, before my face : ''If thine idolatry be never 
so secret, thougli it were but in heart, remember 
tliat it will be in my sight; thou canst not steal 
away any of my glory to bestow any where else, so 
cunningly and secretly but I shall espy thee. If 
thou canst have any other gods that I cannot know 
of, and see not, thou mayest; but if thou canst 
have none but I shall see them, then beware, for if 
I see it I will punish it.'^ 

III. Breaches or sins against this command- 
ment. 

We cannot particularly name all, but some main 
ones. 

1. That inbred enmity, that habitual rebellion 
that is in our natures against God ; (cvju^u^c tx^pa,) 
that connatural enemy that takes life with us as 
soon as ourselves in the womb : (To (ppovrjfjLa rfjQ 
crap/cdc,) ' the minding of the flesh and the evi- 
dence of that, {ovx vTroTafforerai,) it cannot be 
ordered, is ever breaking rank.^ Some even of 
those that bestow mourning upon sin, yet do not 
often enough consider the bitter fountain, and be- 
wail it. The wisest way to know things, is follow- 
ing them home to their causes. Thus David, ' Be- 
hold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath 
my mother conceived me.^ * 

2, Atheism. Though there is in the consciences 
of all men an indelible conviction of a Deity, so that 
there have been few of those monsters found, professed 
atheists ; yet there is in us all naturally this of 
atheism, that by nature we would willingly be rid 
of that light, and quench that sparkle if we could : 



^ Eom. viii. 6. 



Psalm 11. 5. 



158 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



and all ungodly men do live contrary to it, and 
fight against it. 

3. The gross idolatry of the heathens ; their {ttoXv 
^eorrjg) making gods of beasts, almost of every 
thing, and beasts of themselves; No bounds can be 
set to falsehood."^ The writers of the primitive 
church have mightily and learnedly confuted them : 
but we will not stir this dunghill. The Scrip- 
ture calls idols so, CD>b>l^J, gillulhn, dunghill- 
gods. 

4. Witchcraft, necromancy and magical arts, that 
make a god of the devil. 

5. Rome's invocation of saints and angels; though 
they take never so much pains to clear it, they do 
but wash the blot more. Thus, in the same matter, 
'Though thou wash thee with nitre and take thee 
much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, 
saith the Lord.'^ All their apologies take it not away, 
let them refine it never so much with pamphlets 
and distinctions; all they attain by spinning it so 
fine, is but to make it a part of the mystery of ini- 
quity. 

6. Erroneous opinions concerning God, and gene- 
rally heresies in religion. 

7. Practical or interpretative atheism, or idolatry, 
whether of the two you will call it ; for it is both 
in the lives of the most : and the world is full of 
this, being such as declares they have no God, or 
that this god is but some base idol in his stead ; 
particularly amongst ourselves, 1. Gross ij^iiorance 
of God, and no endeavour to attain the knowledge 
of him, though in the midst of the light and means 
of knowing. 2. Universal profaneness, flowing from 



* Nullis enim terminus in falso. 



* Jer. ii. 22. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



159 



this ignorance/ The hearts of men that should be 
the temples of God, are fall of idols; though we 
hide them in the closest corners, they are before 
his fiice, he sees them :^ lust and pride and covet- 
ousness. Consider, that which you bestow moirt 
thoughts and service on, that which you are mo&t 
affectionate and earnest in, is not that your god ? 
And is there not something beside the true God, 
that is thus deep in tlie hearts of the most of us ? 
Take pains to make the comparison ; look upon the 
temper of your minds; (to say nothing of much 
more time spent upon other things thun on him;) 
how ardent you are in other affairs that you think 
concern you near, and how cold in serving and 
honouring him ! But though in particular under- 
gods, in what serves their honour, they differ, all 
men naturally agree in the great idol himself 
Every man is, by corrupt nature, his own god. Was 
not this the first wickedness that corrupted our na- 
ture, ' Ye shall be as gods ?' and it sticks to it 
still. Men would please themselves, and have 
themselves somebody, esteemed and honoured ; and 
would have all serve to this end. Is not this God's 
right and due, which they give themselves, to be the 
end of all their own actions ; and sacrifice all to 
their ow n glory ? 

IV. What it cGmmands. 

Now by these we may easily gather the contrary, 
what is the obedience of this commandment. 

Though the graces are duties properly belonging 
to this commandment, some divines think fit to ex- 
patiate into the several common-places of them, in 
explaining this commandment : yet, with all re- 
spect to them, I think it not so fit to dwell upon 
' Hoc. iv. 1, 2, 3. * Ezek. viii. 



160 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



each of these herein ; their full handling rather be- 
longing to that place of divinity that treats of the 
head of sanctification, and those infused hahits of 
which it consists. The thing commanded is, there- 
fore this, so to know the true God, this Jehovah, as 
to be persuaded sovereignly to love, and fear, and 
trust in him, to serve and adore him 

He is to be feared, for he is great: 'Who v^^ould 
not fear thee, thou King of nations !' To be loved, 
for he is good ; and because both great and good, 
only fit to be wholly relied on and hoped in. 

But love is all, it gives up the heart, and by that 
all the rest to the party loved ; it is no more its 
own. O that we could love him! Did we see 
him, we should. It is his uncreated beauty that 
holds glorified spirits still beholding and still de- 
lighted ; but we, because we know him not, if we 
have any thoughts of him, how short are they ? 
Presently down again we fall to the earth, and into 
the mire ere we are aware. Therefore, 

Set yourselves to know, and love, and worship 
this God : labour that there may be less of the 
world, and less of yourselves, and more of God in 
your hearts; more settled and fixed thoughts of 
him, and delight in him. Think not that this is 
only for the learned, or only for some retired con- 
templative spirits, that have nothing else to do. He 
is the Most High, and service and honour is due 
to him from all his creatures; and from his reason- 
able creatures, reasonable service. And what this 
is, hear from the apostle, and let his exhortation, or 
his entreaty, persuade you to it; 'I beseech you 
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that 
you present your bodies a living sacrifice, (and they 
are not living without the soul,) h*" '"Y* acceptable 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



161 



onto God, which is your reasonable service, * and 
your truest obedience to this commandment. 



PRECEPT II. 

Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or 
any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or 
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water 
under the earth : thou shall not bow down thyself 
to them, nor serve them : for I the Lord thy God 
am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fa- 
thers upon the children unto the third and fourth 
aenerafion of them that hate me; and showing 
mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep 
my commandments. 

The first commandment binds us to acknowledge 
and worship the true God ; this, to the true worship 
of that God. 

As God is not known but by his own teaching" 
and revealing himself, so he cannot be rightly 
worshipped but by his own pVescription and ap- 
pointment. 

This is the aim of this second commandment, to 
bind up man's hands, and his working fancy that 
sets his hands at work; to teach him to depend 
upon divine direction for the rule of divine worship ; 
and to offer God nothing in his service, but what 
he hath received from him in command. The pro- 

^ Rom xii. 1, 

M 



162 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



hibition is g-eneral ; non fades tihi, thou shalt 
not devise any thing to thyself in the worship of 
God. And under that gross device of images, and 
worshipping them, expressly named, are compre- 
hended all other inventions and will-worship. 

There is in the words, 1. The precept. 2. The 
enforcement of it. 

Precept. 1. Thou shalt not make, thou shalt not 
imagine, nor invent, nor imitate the invention of 
others. Thou shalt not make, nor cause to make : in 
a word, thou shalt be no way accessory to the cor- 
rupting of divine worship, with any resemblance, 
or image, or human device at ail. 

The former, a particular word, signifying the 
then most usual kind of imagery ; but the other of 
a most large and general sense, for all kind of simi- 
litude and representation. So that the dispute the 
church of Rome drives us into, for her interest in 
this matter, about tLhojXov, idolum, and eiKiov, icon, is 
not only a mere logomachy, a debate about words, 
but altogether impertinent and extravagant, having 
no ground at all in the words of the command- 
ment ; the former whereof is more particular than 
either of these two, and the latter more general and 
comprehensive than either they or any one word 
w^e have to render it by. 

Of the things ivhich are in heaven, &c.] Because 
the vain mind of man had wandered up and down 
the world, and gone through all these places to find 
objects of idolatry: in heaven, the sun, and moon, 
and stars ; on the earth not only men, but beasts 
and creeping things, and fishes in the waters, and 
made images of them to worship; the Lord is there- 
fore particular in hils countermand. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



163 



2. The second part of the precept is concerning 
their worship, Thou shall not how down to them, nor 
serve them. 

The former word is more particular, specifying* 
one usual sign of w^orship, the inclining or bowing 
of the body. The other general ; Thou shall not 
serve them, i. e. give them no kind nor part' of reli- 
gious worship at all, on whatsoever pretence. 

Here again the Popish writers make a noise 
with that distinction, under which they think to 
shift , the censure of idolatry. Call it what they 
will, Xargeviiv, or SnXeveiv, surely it comes under the 
word in the original, which signifies religious service 
or worship. Neither can they ever find in all the 
scriptures, that any thing of that kind should be 
bestowed lower than upon the majesty of God 
himself. 

This is then the tenor of the cominandnient. 1. 
That no image or representation of God be made 
at all, as is expressed in many other scriptures, as 
giving the sense of this precept. 2. Nor that any 
resemblance of any creature be made for a religious 
use. 3. That neither to any creature, nor to any 
resemblance or image be given any part of divine 
worship, although it were with a pretence, yea, and 
intention of worshipping the true God in and by 
them ; which, if it were a sufficient excuse, as the 
church of Rome dreams it is, certainly the Israel 
ites' golden calf, and many other the grossest idols 
that have been in the world, might come and find 
room to shelter under it. 

For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God,'] This 
follows the other part, the binding on, or enforcing 
of +he precept by threatening and promise annexed. 
Particularly, there be these five things, by which 

M 2 



164 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



God describes himself here, to persuade obedience 
to this command: 1. His relation to his people; 
Thy God, 2. His power both to punish and re- 
ward ; EL, the strong God. 3. The exact reo^ard 
he hath to his own glory and zeal, or jealousy for 
it; a jealous God. 4. The certainty and severity of 
his justice, punishing the transgressors of this his 
law, on themselves and their posterity ; visiting, &c. 
5. The plenty and riches of his goodness to the 
obedient; showing mercy, &c. 

This commandment, and the fourth, are longer 
than the rest, and more backed with argument, be- 
cause the light of nature discerns less in these than 
in the rest : the outward manner of the worship 
of God, and God^s exactness in that, to be served 
not as we will, but as he himself sees fit: and con- 
cerning the time of it. 

Of the first argument, from God's relation to his 
people, before in the preface ; here it is repeated, 
because it suits with the word that follows, y^^//^?^/^. 
1. Thy God ; thy husband by particular covenant, 
and therefore jealous of thy love and fidelity to me 
in my worship. 2. EL, {h^,) able to right myself 
upon the mightiest and proudest offender. 'Do 
we provoke the Lord to jealousy ?' says the apos- 
tle; *are we stronger than he?'^ There joining 
these two together, (as here they are,) his strength 
and his jealousy. 3. Jealous : He is the Lord and 
husband of his people, and idolatry is therefore 
spiritual adultery; as they are often reproached 
with it under that name by the prophets.^ So that 
by that sin particularly his anger is stirred up 
against them. The very contract of this marriage 



' 1 Cor. X. 22. 



^ Jer. ill. 1, &c. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



165 



with bis people we have, Exod. xix. 5. 4. Visiting, 
As judges and magistrates use to visit those places 
that are under their jurisdiction, to make enquiry- 
after abuses committed in time of their absence, 
and to punish them/ Thus he that is always every 
where alike present, yet because he doth not spee- 
dily punish every sin at the first, therefore when 
he doth execute judgment in his appointed time, 
then is he said to visit, and search, and find out 
that iniquity, which, in his timt forbearance, he 
seemed to the ungodly either not to see or not to 
regard. 

Of the fathers,'] It is true, the prophet correct- 
ing the perverse speech of the people of his time, 
affirms, *that the son shall not bear the iniquity of 
the father,'^ &c. to wit, he repenting and returning, 
and being no way culpable of the like iniquity 
which the people then falsely presumed of them- 
selves. But neither is it here said, that the god- 
ly children shall suffer for the sin of their un- 
godly parents or ancestors ; but because this sin of 
idolatry, or false worship in any kind, doth as com- 
monly and readily descend to posterity, as any 
other; and there is scarce any plea for false religion 
that takes more, " It was the religion of our fore- 
fathers;" this kind of threatening may possibly for 
that cause be here particularly suitable. 

But sure that is not ail that is here intended, that, 
if the children do continue in the sin of the parents, 
they shall be punished ; but that for so high a 
transgression as this, he may justly, and often doth 
in judgment give the children over to the sins of 
their parents ; his grace being free, and so not be- 



« 1 Sam. vii, 16. 



* Ezek. xviii. 



166 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



Ing bound to his creature to furnish grace, but 
where he will. They go on in the sin of their fa- 
thers, and bring" upon themselves further punish- 
ment, not only temporal, but spiritual and eternal. 
It is not necessary for its verifying that it be always 
so; for God, we know, hath converted many chil- 
dren of ungodly, yea, particularly of idolatrous pa- 
rents, and showed them mercy. But, in that he just- 
ly may do thus, it is a just threatening ; and in that 
he often doth thus, it is a true threatening, although 
in mercy lie deal otherwise where it pieaseth him. 

That ha fe me.] What! this is so harsh a word, 
that nobody will own it. Not the most dissolute 
and wicked, not the grossest idolaters. Yet gene- 
rally the love of sin witnesses against men possessed 
with it, that they are {3^eo(TTvyeiQ) haters of God; 
and particularly the love of idols and false worship, 
alienates the soul from God, and turns it to enmity 
against him. Men seem possibly to themselves, in 
false worship, humble and devout;^ but it is to 
hate and dishonour the Divine Majesty, to bring to 
him and force upon him, as it were, in his own 
presence, in his immediate service^ that which is 
most hateful to him. 

Showing mercy to thousands.'] " Blessing them 
and their posterity, being their God, and the God 
of their seed." 

Thai love and keep, &c.] That therefore obey 
me, because they love me, and testify they love me 
by obeying me." This is a general truth in regard 
of all the commandments, though more particu- 
larly to be applied to this, to which it is annexed. 
It forbids. 



> Col. ii. 18. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



167 



1. Making any imag'e or resemblance of God at 
all. ^Ye saw no manner of similitude/ * &c. * To 
whom will ye liken me 

2. The giving any kind of religious honour and 
worship to any creature or created resemblance.^ 
The reason why men are so propense to both these, 
is, because they are so much addicted to sense, and 
their minds are so blinded, that they cannot con- 
ceive of the spiritual nature of God. Therefore 
being driven by conscience to some kind of worship 
and religion, they incline to have some visible ob- 
ject of it; the soul having lost its sight, leans upon 
the body, would make it up, and supply it by the 
eye of sense, 

3. And this third springs from the same root too. 
All superstition and will- worship, all self- pleasing 
ceremonies and inventions in the service of God, 
how pompous and plausible and devout soever 
they seem to be, instead of decorating, do in- 
deed deface the native beauty of divine worship; 
and, as popish pictures on glass windows, they 
may seem rich and gay, but they darken the house ; 
they keep out the light of saving truth, and ob- 
scure the spiritual part of the service of God. 

4. All gross material conceits and apprehensions 
of God. Other particulars may be reduced to this 
command ; for this and the rest name but the main 
offences and duties. Then it commands, 

1. To learn, and carefully and punctually to ob- 
serve the prescription of God in every part of his 
own worship, and diligently to be exercised in it. 



• Deut. iv. 15. 2 xl. &c. 

^ Job, xxxi. 27; Psalm cxv. 



168 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



as in hearing, prayer, sacraments, and other devout 
acts. 

2. In worshipping him to have the purest spiritual 
notion of his majesty that we are able to attain to. 

God deals by both, by representing his justice 
and his mercy to persuade his people to obedience, 
to drive them by fear of the one, and draw them 
by the sweetness of the othert Thus pastors are 
to set both before their people ; but as he delights 
most in the pressing of his mercy, and persuad- 
ing by that, so certainly it is that which prevails 
most with his own children, and doth most kindly 
melt and mould their hearts to his obedience. 

Visit iniquity to the third and fourth (/eneration ; 
but show mercy to thousands, that keep my com- 
mandments.'] Although it be not perfect, yet it is 
such a keeping as flows from love, and therefore 
love makes up what is wanting in it; and that is 
not perfect neither, in us here, and therefore mercy 
makes up what is wanting in both. It is not such 
love and obedience as can plead for reward upon 
merit, but such as stands in need of mercy, and it 
is free grace and mercy that rewords ir. And ob- 
serve here the difference ; vengeance to the third 
and fourth, persevering in sin ; but mercy to thou* 
sands who seek that mercy. 

Love and keep.'] These two are inseparable. 
No keeping the commandments without love, no 
love without keeping them. Try then the one by 
the other, the sincerity of your obedience by exam- 
ining the spring of it, if it arise from love ; and 
try the reality of your love, if it be active and fruit- 
ful in obedience. 
You know how studious love is to please, how 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



169 



observant of their will whom it affects, preferring 
it to their own will, and desirous to have no will 
but the same ; makes hard things easy, and cannot 
endure to have any thing called difficult to it. 
Much love to God would do this, it would turn all 
duty into delight. Did we once know what this 
were, we should say with St. Augustin, " What 
needs threatening and punishment to those that 
love thee ? Is it not punishment enough not to 
love thee If you would have all your obedience 
sweet and easy to yourselves, and acceptable to 
God, seek above all things hearts inflamed with 
his love. 



PRECEPT III. 

Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in 
vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who 
taketh his name in vain. 

The Psalmist, stirring up himself to the praises of 
God,^ calls up his glory to it, ' Awake, my glory.' 
By glory the Hebrew interpreters understand the 
soul; the Septuagint and others the tongue. So 
the apostle, following the Septuagint, renders it, 
from Psalm xv. Acts, ii. 26. 

It suits well with both. The soul being the bet 
ter part of man, far excelling the body ; and 
amongst the parts of the body, the tongue having 



* Psalm Ivii. 8. 



170 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



this excellency, to be the organ of speech, and so 
the interpreter of the mind ; and this difference 
from the beasts, as the soul is, may well partake of 
its honourable name, and be called man's glory. 

But that which gives them both best title to that 
name, is that exercise to which he calls them, the 
praising and glorifying of their Lord and Maker. 
Then are they indeed our glory, when they are so 
taken up and employed ; when the one conceives, 
and the other utters his glory. 

And as it becomes them always to be one, as they 
have one name, the soul and the tongue to agree, 
so especially should this one name given them be 
answered by their harmony and agreement in his 
own work, for which chiefly they have that name, 
in giving glory to God ; and it is that which this 
commandment requires : forbidding that which is 
the ignominy of man, both of his soul and of his 
tongue, and degrades them, turns them out of the 
name of glory, to be called shame and dishonour, 
that is, irreverence, and dishonouring the glorious 
name of God ; and therefore, on the contrary, com- 
manding the reverent and holy use of his name 
and service; and that we always endeavour so to 
speak and think of him, and so to walk before him, 
as those that seek beyond all things that his name 
may be glorified in us and by us. For though false 
swearing and vain swearing are main breaches of 
this commandment, (as we shall show afterwards,) 
being primely forbidden by it, yet it extends gene- 
rally to all our speeches concerning God. Neither 
is it to be restrained there, and kept within that 
compass, as if it gave only law to the tongue ; al- 
though indeed the tongue hath a very great share 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



171 



in it, both in the breaking and keeping" of it, yet 
certainly the precept in its full sense goes deeper 
into the soul, and gives a rule to the speech of the 
mind, our thoughts concerning God ; and larger, 
stretches itself forth to our actions and life, which 
have as loud a voice to those with whom we con- 
verse as our tongues, and are the more considerable 
of the two, giving a truer character of men, what 
they are indeed, than their words can do. 

The first commandment teaches and enjoins 
whom we shall worship ; the second, what worship 
we shall give him. This third shows us with what 
disposition and intention, and answerably with what 
manner of expression we shall worship him, and 
use his name, that it be not vainly, and after a com- 
mon trivial manner, but in holiness and humility, 
and desire of his glory. 

So then this commandment concerns particularly 
that which is the great end of all the works of God, 
* the glory of his name.* He made all things for 
himself.^ His works of creation are for this end ; ^ of 
redemption and new creation of the elect world, ' all 
to his praise and glory and for this end ' calls he 
us from darkness to light, to show forth his praises 
or virtues.'^ This we are to intend with him, and 
that this precept requires of us, that what he aimed 
at in all his works, the same we may intend in all 
ours : and this is an excellent thing, the holiest 
and happiest condition, to make God's purpose 
ours, and have the same end with him. Here it is 
particularly true, summa religionis est imitari quem 
colis, The main of religion is to imitate him whom 

* Prov. xvi. 4. ' Isaiah, xliii. 7« 

» Eph. i. 12. * 1 Pet. ii. 9. 



172 



AN EXPOSITION OF* 



we worship." Thus are we to live, and particularly 
80 to woj-ship him and make meniion of his name, 
that we be ever sensible ol'its worth and greatness, 
and so beware that we indignify it not, but always 
seek to advance the honour and glory of it; and 
that is the very scope of this commandment. I 
first consider the meaning of the words. 

I. The precept itself. 2. The annexed commi- 
nation. 

In the precept, 1. What, his name. 2. To take 
it. 3. What, to take it in vain. 

The name.] 1. The names that are given him 
in scripture, 'Jehovah/ ' Elohim,' &c. It was a 
foolish and profane shift of the Jews, that thought 
themselves free, if they abused not the name 
Jehovah. And so they became superstitious in the 
forbearing that, and licentious in the abuse of the 
rest ; and swearing by other things in heaven and 
earth, &c. Which therefore our Saviour reproves, 
giving the true sense of this commandment.^ And 
this is the nature of superstition, to make frivolous 
and undue restraints, by way of compensation of that 
profane liberty and looseness in the commandments 
of God, which is its usual companion. 2. All the 
attributes of God, by which the holy scriptures 
set him forth to us. 3. Generally any thing what- 
soever by which God is made known unto us, and 
distinguished from all others, and by which we make 
mention of him, which are the uses of a name. In 
a word, St. Paul expresseth it fully and fitly, (ro 
yvit)(TTov Tov Qeov) 'that which can be known of God.* 

Thou shall not lake.] That is, thou shalt not take, 
or lift up, or bear. 1. Not use it secretly by thy- 



* Matth. V* 33, 30a 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



173 



self, or within thyself, in thine own thoup^hts, with- 
out reverence ; not take it in vain. So, 2. Not 
make mention of it, or express it to others vainly ; 
not lift it up in vain. 3. Not bear, not be called 
by it, or have it called upon thee ; not profess it in 
vain. 

In vain,] I. Falsely and dissimulately. 2. Pro- 
fanely. 3. Un profitably, to no purpose. 4. Lightly 
and inconsiderately, without due regard and holy 
fear. 

2 The annexed commination. 

He will not hold him gidlflef<s.'] ''He will not 
clear him. The sovereign Judge, from whose hand 
no offender can escape, except he willingly set 
him free and absolve him, he will not absolve 
them that abuse his name." And it means further, 
he will not clear him, that is, he will certainly 
punish him, and do judgment on him as guilty. 
And this is the rather particnlr-.rly here expressed, 
because men are subject foolishly to promise them- 
selves impunity in this sin ; thinking that there re- 
mains no guiltiness behind it, but it passes as the 
words do ; or if there be any, yet being but a mutter 
of words, wlierein the most usual and known 
breach of this command consists, that the guilti- 
ness of them is so small, that any little excuse may 
wipe it off ; that it is but inadvertence, or a bad 
custom, or some such thing. No,^' says the Lord, 
the Lawgiver himself, "delude not yourselves, think 
not the honour and dishonour of my name a light 
matter; or if you will, yet I will not think it so,-, 
and you shall not find it so ; though you easily for- 
give and clear yourselves, I will not clear you, but 
will vindicate the glory of my name in your just 
punishment, which your sin of taking it in vaiu 



174 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



did abuse and dishonour ; and you sliall feel m 
that punishment that you are not guiltless, as you 
imagined." The name of God is great, and weighty, 
and honourable, (as the same Hebrew word i^Ig- 
nifies both,) and therefore [qui assumiint vel attol- 
lunt,) as the word here is, they that offer to lift up 
this weighty name lightly and regardlessly, it shall 
fall upon them, and they shall be crushed under 
the weight of it. 

There are many questions relating to this com- 
mandment handled and discussed by divines, as of 
an oath, a vow,&c. which, for our purposed brevity, 
we will pass by ; and only, according to our usual 
method, add some chief heads of the violation and 
observance of this commandment. 

1. It forbids all false swearing or perjury, which 
is to take his name, after the grossest manner, in 
vain, or in mendaclmn, as the word likewise signi- 
fies ; to call truth itself, the first verity, to partake 
of a lie. But he is not mocked : for as the nature 
of an oath imports invocating him as the highest 
both witness and judge of truth, and punisher of 
falsehood, he always, in his own due time, makes 
it good on those that dare adventure upon that 
guiltiness in so high a kind. 

2. Papal dispensation of oaths, which is a most 
heinous sin, and becomes him that is eminently 
called ^ the man of sin.* It is more than perjury, 
for it is a professed avowed patrociny of perjury 
together with an impudent conceit of a privilege 
and right to do so. 

3. Equivocatory oaths, by which, if it were 
lawful, the grossest perjury might be defended ; 
for there is nothing so false, but some mental reser- 
vation may make it true. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



175 



4. Abusing the name and word of God to charms 
and spells. 

5. Execration and cursing by the name of Satan, 
which is no other but invocating him, 

6. Swearmg by any creature. 

7. Abusing and vilifying the glorious and holy 
name of God, by passionate, or by vain and com- 
mon customary swearing. 

8. Swearing for ends of controversy, and in 
weighty matters, where an oath is lawful, yea ne- 
cessary ; yet doing it without due reverence, and 
consideration of the greatness of God, and the na- 
ture of an oath. 

9. Abusing of the word of God ; either wresting 
it to defence of error, or making sport and jesting 
with it. 

10. Scoffing and taunting at holiness, and the 
exercises of religion. 

11. Dishonouring the religion which we profess, 
by iMiworthy and unsuitable carriage of life. 

12. Performing prayer, or any other religious 
exercise, only out of custom, without affection and 
delight, and holy regard of the presence and ma- 
jesty of God in his worship. More might be 
added, which for brevity we omit. 

Is it not the highest shame of Christians to take 
pleasure to vilify and abuse that holy name of God, 
which saints and angels are blessing above, and 
which we hope (as we pretend) to bless with them 
for ever P If any dare offer to excuse it, by provo- 
cation, or passion, that otherwise use it not ; con- 
sider what a madness this is, because man hath 
injured thee, thou wilt injure God, and be avenged 
upon his name for it ! And you that plead custom. 



176 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



accuse yourselves more deeply ; that tells you are 
guilty of long- continuance in, and frequent com- 
mission of this horrible sin. Were the fear of God 
in men's hearts, it would prevail both above their 
passion and their custom. Did they believe this, 
that the Lord will not clear them in his great day, it 
would fright them out of their custom. Were 
there a law made, that whosoever were heard 
swear should be put to death, you would find a 
way to break your custom. God threatens eternal 
death, and you fear not, because indeed you be- 
lieve not. 

II. It commands, generally, the reverent and holy 
use of the name of God : and particularly . 1. In 
case of necessity, by advised and religious swearing 
by his name, and his alone, in judgment, truth, and 
righteousness. 2. Consider his name often, to take 
it into our thoughts, to meditate on his glorious 
attributes, and on his word and works ; in both 
which those attributes shine forth unto us. 3. To 
delight to make mention of his name upon all fit 
occasions, and to speak to his glory. 4. To adorn 
our holy profession of religion with a holy life, with 
wise and circumspect walking, that it may not be 
evil spoken of by our means. 5. That our heart 
and affection be in the service of God which we 
perform, otherwise (how plausible soever the ap- 
pearance and outside of it is) it is nothing but 
guiltiness within, a taking of his name in vain, who 
will not hold them guiltless that do so. 6. Above 
all exercises, to delight in the praises of God, which 
is most properly the exalting and magnifying of his 
name, the lifting it up on high. The Psalmist 
abounds in commending it; it is ^ good/ it is 



THE C<>M:MAND^!FNTS 



177 



'comely/ it is 'pleasant:' O! that we could 
resolve with him. ' I will bless the Lord at all 
times: his praise shall be in my mouth continu- 
ally. My soul sliall make her boast in the Lord/^ 
&c. This is, as we can, to bear a part here with 
glorified spirits; and a certain privilege to us, that 
after a few days we shall be admitted into their 
number. 



PRECEPT IV. 

Bememher the sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days 
shalt thou labour, and do all thy work ; but the 
seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in 
it thou shalt not do any ivork, thou, nor thy son, 
nor thy daughter, thy man-servant , nor thy maid- 
servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is 
taithin thy gates : for in six days the Lord made 
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, 
and rested the seve7ith day ; ivherefor"* the Lord 
blessed the sabbath-day, and halloived it. 

Amongst all the visible creatures, it is man's pecu- 
liar excellency, that he is capable of considering 
and worshipping his Maker, and was made for that 
purpose; yet being composed of the dust of the 
earth, and the breath of God, [irrovQ koX x^^^c/) a 
body and a soul, the necessities of that meaner 
part, while we are in this life, employ as much. 



* Psalm xxxiv. 1, 2. 



* Greg. Naz. 
N 



178 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



and take up a great part of our little time. And in 
this regard God hath wisely and graciously set 
apart a day for us, one of each seven to be appro- 
priate to that our highest employment, the contem- 
plating and solemn worshipping of his Majesty. 
This is the scope of this precept, 

I. 1. The precept itself. 2. The reason of it, 
and motive to its obedience. The precept itself is 
first briefly expressed. 3. Further explained and 
u ged. 

Remember,] This word used, 1. It seems to re- 
flect upon by- past omission and forgetfulness ; for 
though it was instituted in Paradise, and was not 
now a new unheard of thing to this people, as ap- 
pears by Exod. xvi. 23, yet it is like they were 
much worn out of the observation and practice of 
it, especially during the time of their captivity in 
Egypt. So then it is renewed thus, " Keep holy 
this day, which you know was so long ago ap- 
pointed to be so ; be not now any more unmindful 
and regardless of it.^' 2. Such a way of enjoining 
seems more particularly needful in this than in the 
rest, because it is not so written in nature as the 
rest, but depends wholly upon particular institu- 
tion ; which may also be the cause why it is so 
large, and the form of it alone amongst all the ten, 
both negative and positive, thou- shall do no ivork, 
and, remember to keep it holy, 3. But the main rea- 
son of this, remember, is, the main thing or aim in 
this precept, as both the badge, and the preserver 
and increaser of all piety and religion. And there- 
fore is it, that it is so often pressed in the books of 
the law, and sermons of the prophets to the people 
of God, and so often called a sign of God's cove- 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



179 



nant with them, and their mark of distinction from 
all other people.* 

The sabbath-day,'] It is called a day of rest 
from the beg^innino- and original of its institution, 
God's rest; and from the end of its institution, 
man's rest; both which follow in the words of the 
command : the one is the example and enforcing 
reason of the other. 

That thou keep holy.] God sanctified it by insti- 
tuting it, and man sanctifies it by observing it ac- 
cord in o- to that institution. 

o 

This sanctifying is, 1 . In cessation from earthly 
labour. 2. In their stead to be wholly possessed 
and taken up with spiritual exercises, both in private 
and in public. The former is necessary for the being 
of the latter, that cessation for this work ; and the 
latter is necessary for the due being of the former; 
we cannot be vacant and entire for spiritual service, 
unless we cease from bodily labour; and this cessa- 
tion or resting from bodily labour, cannot be a 
sanctifying of this day unto God, unless it be accom- 
panied with spiritual exercises. 

In the following words, that part is only ex- 
pressed, — the rest or abstinency from work; but the 
other is supposed as the end of this, that they shall 
not do their own works, that they may attend upon 
God's, his solemn worship. And this is implied 
in that word, it is the sabbath of the Lord thy God, 
both of his own appointing, and for this end his 
work, that he may be more solemnly worshipped. 
And likewise the antithesis that seems to be in that 
word, in six days thou shall do all thy work, imports, 

' Exod. xxiii. 12; xxxi. i3, 14. Levit. xix. 30, 25, 2, &c. 
Jerem. xvii. 20, &c. Isai. Iviii. 13, 14, &c. 

N 2 



180 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



that on the seventh thou shalt do God's: not so 
called, that any benefit arises to him by our ser- 
vice.; no, our goodness reaches him not at all. That 
way, that worship that is far above ours, that of 
the angels, can add nothing to him, for he is infi- 
nite. Even this work, sabbath's Vv^ork, and all our 
prayers and praises offered to him, and all perform- 
ances of his worship, they are our works in respect 
of the gain and advantage of them, it comes all 
back to us. But his worship is his work objectively, 
he is the object of it, and directively by particular 
prescription from himself; and, if you will, add 
effectively too, never done aright but by his own 
grace and assistance. 

Six days shalt thou labour. '\ The command of 
due labour and diligence in our particular callings, 
is not of this place, it belongs properly to the eighth 
precept, and some way to the seventh ; here it is 
only mentioned premissively, and for illustration ot 
this duty here enjoined. And further, there is un- 
der it a motive from abundant equity, seeing God 
hath made the proportion thus, not pinched to us, 
but dealt very liberally in the time granted for our 
own work : what gross, not impiety only, but ini- 
quity and ingratitude will it be, to encroach upon 
that small part he hath nominated and set apart for 
his service! This was a great aggravation of our 
first parents^ first sin, that having the free use of all 
the trees in the garden besides, they would not bate 
that one that was forbidden them, in homage and 
obedience to him that had given them all the rest, 
and given them themselves, who a little before were 
nothing. 

Thou shalt labour. 1 Not so as in them to forget 
and take no notice of God, not at all to call upon 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



181 



liim and worship him, and think to acquit all by- 
some kind of attendance on him on the sabbath. 
Tiiey that do so are most unsanctified themselves, 
and therefore cannot sanctify the sabbath to God. 
Such profane persons do profane and pollute all 
they touch with their foul hands; for such be all 
profane hands lifted up to God in prayer. The life 
of the godly is not a visitino" of God only in his 
house on this day, but a daily and constant walk- 
ing- with God in our own houses, and in all our 
ways; making- both our houses and our hearts, his 
houses, his temples, where he may dwell witli us, 
and we may offer him our daily sacrifices. 

Only the peculiar of this day is, that w^e may 
not divide it betwixt heaven and earth, but it shall 
he wholly for the service of God, and no work at 
all to have place in it that may hinder that, and 
suits not with the sanctifying of it; for so we are 
to understand the word, no manner of work. 

Neither thou nor thy servant.] As each one is 
obliged personally, so they that have command of 
others, are bound to bind them to observance: and 
the cattle to rest, because their labour is for man^s 
use, and therefore his resting infers theirs; as like- 
wise their rest is for a passive conformity, that man 
may see nothing round about him, but what may 
incite to the observance of this day ; which was the 
reason, in solemn fasts, of the beasts fasting likewise, 
for man^s further humiliation. The strung er, if con- 
verted and professing their religion, the same rea- 
son for him, as for all others within a man's house; 
and if a stranger to their religion too, yet they 
might and ought, as here is commanded, oblige 
him to this part of outward conformity, cessation 
from work, which otherwise would be an offensive 



182 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



and scandalous sight; and withal if they did any 
work for those with whom they dwell, their share 
would be deeper in the sin, than of such a stranger 
not professing their religion. 

For in six days.'] It is not pertinent here to speak 
of the reason of this, why God made six days* work 
of that which he could have done in one instant; 
here it is only urged exemplarily, as the reason why 
God did sanctify this day, and why we should 
sanctify it. His rest you know is not of weariness, 
or at all of ceasing from motion ; ' for he fainteth 
not, neither is wearied,* as he tells us by the pro- 
phet; yea, he moves not at all in working, omnia 
movet ipse immotus. But this rest is this, that this 
was the day that immediately followed the perfect- 
ing of the creation ; and therefore God blessed it 
with this privilege, (that is, the blessing of it,) that 
it should be to men holy, for the contemplation of 
God and of his works, and for solemn worship to 
be performed to him. 

All the other precepts of this law remaining in 
full force in their proper sense, it cannot but be an 
injury done to this command, either flatly to refuse 
it that privilege; or, which is little better, to eva- 
porate it into allegories. Nor was the day abolished 
as a typical ceremony, but that seventh only 
changed to a seventh still, and the very next to 
it. He that is Lord of the sabbath, either himself 
immediately, or by his authority in his apostles, 
appointing that day of his resurrection for our sab- 
bath ; adding to the remembrance of the first crea- 
tion, the memorial of accomplishing the new crea- 
tion, the work of our redemption, which appeared 
then manifestly to be perfected, when our Redeemer 
broke the chains of death, and arose from the grave; 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



183 



he that is the light of the new world, shining forth 
anew the same day that light was made in the for- 
mer creation. This day was St. John in the Spirit 
taken up with those extraordinary revelations.' 
They were extraordinary indeed; and certainly 
every Christian ought to be in the spirit in holy 
meditations and exercises on this day more than 
the rest; winding up his soul, which the body poises 
downwards, to a higher degree of heavenliness, to 
be particularly careful to bring an humble heart to 
speak to God in prayer, and hear him in his word ; 
a heart breathing after him, longing to meet with 
himself in his ordinances. And certainly it is safer 
and sweeter to be thus affected towards the Lord's 
day, than to be much busied about the debate of 
the change. 

The very life of religion doth much depend upon 
the solemn observation of this day. Consider but, 
if we should intermit the keeping of it for one year, 
to what a height profaneness would rise in those 
that fear not God, which yet are restrained (though 
not converted) by the preaching of the word, and 
their outward partaking of public worship ; yea, 
those that are most spiritual, would find themselves 
losers by the intermission. 

II. IVhai is forbidden, 1. Bodily labour on .this 
day, where necessity unavoidable, or piety com- 
mands not. 2. Sporting and pastimes ; a sabbath 
of the golden calf, as the Rabbins say. This is not 
to make it a sabbath to God, but to our lusts, and 
to Satan ; and hath a stronger antipathy with the 
worship of God, and that temper of mind they in- 
tend in it, than the hardest labour. 3. Resting 



' Apoc. i. 10. 



184 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



from these, bnt withal, resting from the proper 
work of this day, neglecting" the worship of God in 
the asseml)lies of his people; the beasts can keep it 
thus, as we see in the precept. 4. Resorting to 
the public worship of God, but in a customary cold 
way, without affection and spiritual delight in it. 
5. Spending the remainder of the day incongru- 
ously, in vain visits and discourses, &c. 

III. How the aabbaih is to be obsey^ced. \, By 
pious remembrance of it, and preparation, seques- 
tering not only the body from the labour, but our 
souls from the cares and other vain thoughts of the 
world. 2. Attending upon the public worship of 
God willingly and heartily, as the joy and refresh- 
ment of our souls.* 3. Spending the remainder of 
it in private holily, as much as may be, in medita- 
tion on the word preached, and conference; in 
prayer, reading, and meditating on the great works 
of God, of creation, redemption, &c. 

Inference. This is the loveliest, brightest day in 
all the week to a spiritual mind ; these rests refresh 
the soul in God, that finds nothing but turmoil in 
the creature. Should not this day be welcome to 
the soul, that sets it free to mind its own business, 
which is on other days to attend the business of its 
servant, the body ? And these are a certain pledge 
to it of that expected freedom, when it shall enter 
into an eternal sabbath and rest in him for ever, 
who is the only rest of the soul. 



^ Isaiah, Iviii. 13 ; Psalm cxxii. I, 6, 7« 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



185 



PRECEPT V. 

Honour thy father and tliy mother, that thy days may 
he long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth 
thee. 

The renewed image of God in man, or the new 
man, is made up of holiness and righteousness.' 
These two are that of which the whole law of God 
is the rule : the first table, the rule of holiness or 
piety towards God ; the second, of righteousness or 
equity towards men. And of the commandments 
that concern this, the first aims at the preserving of 
that order which God hath appointed in the several 
relations of superiors and inferiors; that is the 
scope of this fifth commandment. 

Daily experience teacheth us how needful this 
is, that God give a particular precept concerning 
this ; in that we see how few there are that know 
aright, either how to command and hear rule as 
superiors, or as inferiors to obey and be subject : 
and there is one evil, very natural to men, that mis- 
leads them in both, — pride and self-opinion, which 
often makes superiors affect excess in commanding, 
and inferiors defective in due obedience. 

It hath the first place in the second table. 1. As 
being the rule of order and society amongst men, 
which is needful for the better observing of all the 
rest; and in all authority there is a particular re- 
semblance of God, and therefore fitly placed next 
to those precepts that contain our duty to himself. 
He is pleased to use that interchange of names 



^ Eph. iv. 24. 



186 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



with superiors that testifies this resemblance, not 
only to take theirs to himself, to be called a father, 
a master, or king-, &c. but to communicate his own 
name to them, and call them gods. And where 
the apostle speaks of God as the * Father of spirits,* 
he draws a reason from that obedience we owe to 
the fathers of our flesh, as the subordinate causes of 
our being/ 

1. The precept. 2. The projnise. And it is called 
by the apOvStle, 'the first commandment with pro- 
mise.' For the last clause of the second command- 
ment, though it imply a promise, yet (as is usually 
observed) it is general to the keeping of all the 
commandments; whereas this is appropriate. But 
again, it is a promise of a mercy in general, this of 
one particular blessing". 3. It is not formally a 
promise, though it implies one indeed, and is in- 
tended so ; but it is set down by way of description 
of God, from his mercy and bounty to those that 
keep his precepts ; as the clause foregoing it, ex- 
presses his justice in punishing the rebellious. 

Honour.] Under this is comprehended what- 
soever is due to superiors, by virtue of that their 
station and relation to us; inward respective 
thoughts and esteem of them, and outward expres- 
sion, and signifying of it by the usual signs of 
honour, and by obedience and gratitude, &c. 

Thy father, &c.] This relation is named for all 
the rest, as being the first and most natural, 2. 
The sweetest and most affectionate superiority ; 
and therefore the fittest to regulate the command 
of superiors, and to persuade inferiors to obedience. 

^ npwra Oebv rifia, iitTEiruTa dh CfTo yovrjag. — Phocyl. 
^ God honour first, and then thy parents too. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



187 



Magistrates are fathers for men's civil good in their 
societies, and dwelling together ; ministers, fathers 
for their spiritual good and society as Chris- 
tians. 

That thy days may he long, &c.] That it is said, 
' which the Lord thy God shall give thee/ is pecu- 
liar to that people to whom this law was first deli- 
vered ; but the substance of the promise being 
common, extends to all with the precept. 

This blessing of length of days, is particularly fit 
for the duty; that they who honour their parents, 
who are the second causes of their life, shall be 
blessed with long life. 

This, as all other promises of temporal things, is 
ever to be taken with that condition, without which 
they might change their quality, and prove rather 
punishments ; but God always bestows them on 
his own, v.vA tl erefore ought to be understood so 
to promise them, in so far as they are fit for them, 
and may be truly good in their particular enjoy- 
ment, and as they conduce to a greater good. 

1 . It forbids all disobedience in inferiors to the 
just commands of those that God hath placed in 
authority above them. Stubbornness and rebellion 
in children against their parents, or despising and 
disesteem of them for their meanness in body, or 
mind, or estate. The precept is not, honour thy 
parents for their riches, or wisdom, or comeliness;" 
but, " honour them as thy parents, and because 
they are so." Against this command is all other 
disobedience, or refractoriness of those that owe 
obedience ; wives to their husbands, servants to 
their masters, people to their pastors, &c. 

Superi break it, when they abuse their au- 
thority to serve their pride ; their screwing it too 



188 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



high is very unpleasant, a particular dishonour to 
God, and defaces the resemblance they have of 
him; spoils their harmony, as a string too .high 
wound up. And besides that, it is very dangerous, 
being the ready way to break it. As in magis- 
tracy and jiublic government, tyranny is most ob- 
servable, there is petty tyranny in masters and 
parents, &c. in extreme harshness and bitterness, 
&c. M?) TTLKpaiveTE,^ says the apostle, &c. Again, 
when superiors walk unworthily, and so divest 
themselves of that honour which belongs to them. 

2. // commands, first, that children give due re- 
spect and obedience to their parents ; and all that 
are subject to the authority of others, though they 
have not suitable deserving, give it to their station, 
in obedience to God who commands ; for though 
they, personally considered, do not, yet certainly 
God deserves our obedience. And it is so much 
the purer to him, when other incitements failing, 
yet we observe that which fails not at all. All 
obedience to men is limited thus, that it be in tlie 
Lord, and with regard to his supremacy ; and 
therefore no authority can oblige to the obedience 
of any command that crosses his. Authority is 
primitively and originally in God, and he gives not 
his glory to another ; he gives not away any of his 
peculiar authority to man, but substitutes him : 
and our first tie is to God, as his creatures, and 
this is universal ; the greatest kings are his vassals, 
and owe him homage, and no authority derived 
from him can free us from that which we owe to 
himself There is a straight line of subordination, 
and if superiors leave this, we are to adhere to it. 



^ Col. iii. 19. " Be not bitter." 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



189 



looking directly to God, keeping our station. Some 
of the schoolmen think that the inferior angels 
therefore fell with the chief in the apostacy, be- 
cause they looked so much upon him, that they 
considered him not in subordination to God, and 
so left their station, as the apostle speaks. 

Secondly, the duty of all superiors is, 1. To 
consider that their higher station is not for them- 
selves, and for their own advantage, but for those 
that are in subjection to them ; as the stars are set 
in the highest place, but are for the benefit of the 
inferior world, by their light, and heat, and influ- 
ence. ' Let them be for lights in the firmament of 
heaven, to give light upon the earth.' ^ 2. Let them 
always remember to command in God, and for him ; 
to prefer his honour to their own, seeing he gives 
command concerning theirs, that they make it ser- 
viceable for the advancing of his; for to this purpose 
hath he given them authority, and given command 
that they be honoured ; and his promise is to ' lio- 
nour tliose that honour him, but they that despise 
him shall be despised.^ This many superiors have 
felt, because they would not believe it, and take 
notice of it. 

Would parents teach their children to know God, 
and honour and obey him, this were the surest and 
most effectual way to make them obedient children 
to them : if they teach them to obey God, you see 
he commands them to obey their parents ; and 
therefore in obedience to him they will do so. 

» Gen. i. 15. 



190 



AN EXPOSITION OP 



PRECEPT yi. 

Thou shall not kill: or, TJiou shalt do no murder^ 

The world was at first perfect harmony, but sin 
made the breach at which discord entered, enmity 
betwixt God and man, and enmity betwixt man 
and man. the sin that hath poisoned man's na- 
ture, makes him a rebel to God, so it makes them 
tigers and wolves one to another : and that same 
serpent that at first envenomed our nature, doth still 
hiss on wretched man, both to disobedience against 
God, and enmity and cruelty against one another. 
We see, how soon this evil followed upon the 
former; the first parents disobeyed God, and the 
first children, the one killed the other. In oppo- 
sition to this evil, God hath given this to be one of 
his ten precepts. Thou shall not kill. 

Having given a rule touching the particular 
relations of men ; the following commandments of 
the second table concern the general duties of all 
men one to another; and this sixth regardeth his 
being or life. 

JVot kill,'] This ties not up the sword of justice, 
which is in the magistrate's hand, from punishing 
ffenders, even with death those that deserve it; 
but rather calls for the use of it, ' not being to be 
carried in vain,' as the apostle says; not a gilt 
sword only for show, but to be drawn and wielded 
for the execution of justice; both that in the just 
punishment of sin (fcoXactc) the sinner may eat of 
the fruit of his own ways, and so God the supreme 
judge and fountain of justice may be honoured. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



191 



{Tijn(i)pla,) and that by that example (Trapadeiy- 
fia,) others may be terrified from the like offences. 
And thus, just killing, by the sword of the ma- 
gistrate, is a main means of the observing this com- 
mandment amongst men. Thou shalt not kill. 

By the like reason is just war likewise freed from 
the breach of this commandment. But, 

The scope of the precept being the preservation 
and safety of the life of man, and guarding it from 
violence, it is evident that all injury to our neigh- 
bour's life, our own not excluded, is forbidden. 
And not only the heinous fault of murder, which 
human laws do punish, but all the seeds and be- 
ginnings of this sin in the heart, to which princi- 
pally, as the fountain of our actions, the spiritual 
law of God is given, as the authentic interpreta- 
tion of our Saviour teacheth,' and particularly 
touching this commandment.^ 

1. All fixed hatred of our brethren is forbidden, 
as the highest degree of heart-murder. ' Thou' 
shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart.' ^ And 
* whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and 
he adds, that ' ye know that no murderer hath 
life eternal abiding in him.' So then, he is in a 
woeful deadly condition in whose heart this hatred 
d wells. 

This is an infernal kind of fire, like your fires 
under ground, that cannot be quenched ; so far is it 
from the temper of any truly spiritual and heavenly 
mind to be subject to it. There is not any thing 
more contrary to the* Spirit of God, and the work 
of his grace, than the spirit of malice, although it 



» Matt. V. 

3 Levit. xix. 17. 



2 lb. verse 21, &c. 
* 1 John, iU. 



192 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



never break forth to revenf^e; yet if the heart re- 
joice when evil befals those it dislikes, although it 
come from another liand, yet God accounts it, as if 
he that is <jlad at it had inflicted it, and been the 
worker of it. Therefore Job protests thus, * That 
he rejoiced not at the destruction of him that hated 
him, nor lift up his soul when evil found him.'^ 

2. Rash anger, either that which is altogether 
without just cause, or upon some just cause arises 
to an undue measure. And is not this the ordi- 
nary disease of the greatest part; an habitual bit- 
terness of spirit, that is put out of its seat, and 
troubled with every trifling cause, peevishly stirred 
up with the shadow and imagination of a wrong, 
where none is done ? 

3. The vent of these passions of envy and ha- 
tred, or sudden rash anger, by railings and strife 
and bitter speaking, by scoffs and taunts, by whis- 
perings and detraction, which are the common ex- 
ercise of base and unworthy spirits. 

This commandment requires, that to the avoid- 
ing and forbearance of all injury to the life of our 
neighbour, we add a charitable disposition and de- 
sire of preserving it, and do accordingly act that 
charity to our utmost power to the good and com- 
fort of his life; using towards him meekness and 
patience, clemency and beneficence, doing him 
good, supplying his wants, as we are able ; for it 
is cruelty to the life of our poor brethren, to be 
strait-handed towards them in the day of their 
necessity and our abundance, at least of our com- 
paratively better estate.^ 

But we think we do much this way, when upon 



Job, xxxL 29. 



2 1 John, iii. 17* 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



193 



right trial we would find ourselves exceeding de- 
fective; we look upon our few and petty acts of 
charity with a multiplying-glass, and see one as it 
Avere ten. Who almost are there, that will draw 
somewhat from their excesses, to turn into this 
channel ? that will abate a lace from their gar- 
ment, or a dish from their table, to bestow upon 
the necessities of the poor ? In a word, we ought 
not only to be free from hurting, but be a ^ tree of 
life' to our neighbour. 

Let us then be convinced of our guiltiness in the 
breach of this precept. Men think it much if they 
can foigive, upon acknowledgment and submission 
of those that have injured them; but they aspire 
not to this, cordially to forgive those that still 
continue to wrong and provoke them, to com- 
passionate them, and pray for them, and repay 
all their evil with meekness and good-will. We 
consider not how sublime the rule of Chris- 
tianity is, and how low our spirits are, and how 
far off from it. ' Be not overcome of evil,' says the 
apostle, ' but overcome evil of good.'^ It is easy 
to overcome a man that resists not, but yields ; to 
pardon injury when it ceaseth, and entreats par- 
don ; but when it holds out, and is so stout as still 
to fight against that goodness and meekness that 
it meets withal, yet the Christian ought to persist 
in these, and overcome it with good. And see our 
Saviour's rule to them that will be his disciples,* 
against hatred and wrath. Labour for humble spi- 
rits. Pride is the spring of malice, and desire of 
revenge, and of rash anger and contention. This 
makes men easily swell against any thing that 

1 Rom. xiL 21. "* Matt v. 44. 



194 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



crosses them, because they have laid down this 
with themselves, that they deserve to be observed 
and respected, and not crossed at all; and when 
they find it otherwise, it kindles them to anger ; 
and it is not the degree of provocation, but the 
different temper of men's spirits, makes them more 
or less subject to anger. It matters not how great 
the fire be, but where it falls. 

1. Consider that these turbulent passions carry 
their punishment along with themj they rankle 
and fester the soul, and fill it full of pain and dis- 
turbance; whereas the spirit of meekness makes 
the soul of a Christian like the highest region of the 
air, constantly calm and serene. The apostle, 
speaking of this commandment of love, says, that 
'the commandments of God are not grievous.' Cer- 
tainly there is such a true pleasure in meekness, 
forgiving of injuries, and loving our very*enemies, 
that did men know it, they would choose it for the 
very delight and sweetness of it, though there were 
no command to enforce it. 

2. Consider, particularly against rash anger, how 
weak and foolish a thing it is : ' Anger resteth in 
the bosom of fools,' ^ saith Solomon. A fool's breast 
is the very natural place of anger, where it dwells. 
But, as he says elsewhere, ' A man of understand- 
ing is of an excellent spirit;'^ the word is, a ' cool 
spirit.' What a senseless mistake it is for men to 
think it strength and greatness of spirit to bear 
nothing, to be sensible of every touch, and stand 
upon their punctilios ! Is it not evident weak- 
ness to be able to suffer nothing? We see the 
weakest persons most subject to anger, women. 



* Ecd. vii. 9. 



J Prov. xvii. 9. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



195 



children, and the sick, and a^ed persons ; old age 
being both a continued sickness, and a childishness, 
as they call it, and as the dregs of man's life turned 
into vinegar : it is the weakness of all these that 
makes them fretful. ^ In a word, it is ' the glory 
of a man to pass by a transgression;' every one can 
be angry, and most are they that are weakest ; but 
to be above it, and have it under command, is the 
advantage of those that are truly wise, and there- 
fore worthy of our study to attain it. 

3. That which should most prevail with Chris- 
tians, to study love and meekness of spirit, and a 
propension to do good to all, is the conformity that 
is in this temper to our head and Redeemer, Jesus 
Christ, to partake of his dove-like spirit: 'Learn of 
me,' says he, ' for I am meek and lowly in heart.' 
And this he hath given as the commission and 
badge of his disciples, that as he loved them, so 
they love one another. Read also the apostles 
description of true excellence in Gal. v. 20 — 23. 



PRECEPT VII. 

Thou shall nol commit adullery. 

As the perverseness of nature hath found out 
crooked ways, and sinful abuses of things that we 
enjoy and use ; the holy law of God aims at the 

^ *Eic o^v TpETTsrai rovro to \Ei7r6fj1evov. — "It is the leav- 
ings that turn sour." Omne infirmum natura querulum. 
*— A peevish temper is a sign of a naturally weak mind." 

o 2 



196 



AN EXPOSLTION OF 



rectifying these abuses, and bounding and limiting 
our ways by a straight rule. 

And this precept particularly bars us from all 
sinful uncleanness, under the name of one kind of it : 
— that answerably to our condition or estate of 
life, whatsoever it is, single or married, we ought 
to endeavour that cleanness, and purity of soul 
and body, that becomes the temples of the Holy- 
Ghost. 

I purpose not to reckon up particularly the se- 
veral sorts and degrees of sin of this kind ; for 
chastity is a delicate tender grace, and can scarce 
endure the much naming of itself, far less for those 
things that are so contrary to it ; though in the law 
of God given to the people of the Jews, there is 
express mention of the gross abominations of this 
kind, because practised by the Gentiles, and to be 
forbidden them. And though the apostle, writing 
to the Gentiles newly converted from those abomi- 
nations, of necessity mentions particulars of them ; 
yet, further than that necessity of reproving them, 
where they are in custom, requires, he hates the 
very naming of them.^ As the old Roman satirists, 
while they seem to reprove vice, rather teach it by 
their impudent descriptions of it ; the new Roman 
casuists, some of them, are as foul that way. 

It may suffice to regulate us in this, if we believe 
this truth, that whatsoever is in this kind, beside 
the lawful use of marriage, is a breach of this holy 
law of God, whether it be in action or in words, or 
so much as in thought. And, if this be true, (as 
it is, if we believe truth itself, our Saviour's inter- 



VEph. V.3— 12. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



197 



pretation,) that an unchaste look, or thought, makes 
a man guilty, then sure whatsoever is beyond 
these, is more grossly sinful. 

"What a shameful thing is it, that our holy pro- 
fession of religion should be so dishonoured by the 
abounding of uncleanness amongst us ! In many 
it breaks forth scandalously ; and if there be any 
that live in that way of wickedness undiscovered, 
and walk secretly in it ; yet the pure Lord who 
perfectly sees and hates it, will call them to ac- 
count, and judge them, according to the apostle's 
word.' Consider this likewise, any of you that 
have not lamented your former impure conversa- 
tion, but bein^ reformed outwardly by your years, 
or condition of life, yet never have inwardly re- 
pented, and been deeply humbled for the sins or 
your youth. True conversion is not so light a 
work: David (Psalm xxv.) remembers his former 
sins, and prays earnestly that God would not re- 
member them against him. And on the contrary, 
you that think not on them, may justly fear that 
God will remember them, because you yourselves 
have forgot them. 

They that give their tongues the liberty of scur- 
rilous jesting, and impure speeches, cannot but 
have filthy hearts; their noisome breath argues rot- 
tenness within. 

Yea, they that proceed no further in uncleanness, 
than to entertain and lodge the fancies or thoughts 
of it, rolling them in their beds, and delighting in 
them, even such are exceeding guilty and abomi- 
nable in the sight of God, who doth not only see 
into the heart, but most of ail, eyes and regards it 



* Heb. xiii. 4. 



198 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



* Keep thy heart above all keeping/ says Solomon, 
' for from thence are the issues of life.' Certainly, 
they that can dispense with themselves in these in- 
ward heart-uncleannesses, and find no remorse, 
cannot think the Spirit of God dwells within them ; 
for if he were there, he would be showing his dis- 
content and anger against that un holiness, which is 
so contrary to him. 

And this they that have any truth of grace will 
find, that if they be not either free from the assaults, 
or at least those filthy birds, such impure thoughts, 
be not perfectly beaten away, when they light 
on the soul, if they stay but any time with them, 
although they afterwards do chase them out with 
indignation, yet they do leave such a stain, as 
grieves and saddens the Holy Spirit in them, and 
for a time they find it not act in prayer, and in spi- 
ritual comfort, so cheerfully as before. 'Let no 
corrupt (or (rairpog, rotten) communication proceed 
out of your mouth,* says the apostle ; ^ and grieve 
not the Holy Spirit.' Rotten speech grieves the 
Holy Spirit, and so do such thoughts too, which are a 
man's speech with himself ; and therefore, being 
most familiar and frequent with him, ought to be 
most regarded, and watched over. There is not 
any thing will more readily dry up the sweetness 
and spiritual moisture of the soul, and cause the 
graces in it to wither, than the impure fire of lust; 
therefore you that have any beginnings of grace, 
and would have it flourish, beware of this, and 
quench it in its first sparkles; if you do not, it 
may in a little time rise above your power, and 
Btill prove very dangerous. 

If you would be freed from the danger and im- 
portunity of this evil, make use of these usual and 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



199 



very useful rules. 1. Be sober and temperate in 
diet ; withdraw fuel. 2. Be modest and circumspect 
in your carriage ; guard your ears^ and eyes, and 
watch over all your deportment ; beware of undue 
and dangerous familiarities with any, upon what 
pretence soever. 3. Be choice in your society, for 
there is much in that. 4. In general, fly all occa- 
sions and incentives to uncleanness; but truly the 
solid care must begin within, otherwise all these 
outward remedies will prove but empiric medicines, 
as they call them. 

1. First then, lean not upon moral resolves and 
particular purposes against uncleanness, but seek 
a total, entire change of the heart, and to find 
the sanctifying Spirit of grace dwelling within 
you. 

2. Labour to have the heart possessed with a 
deep apprehension of the holiness and purity of 
God, and then of his presence and eye upon all 
thy actions, yea thy most secret thoughts. His eye 
is more piercing than that any wickedness can be 
hid from him, and more pure than to behold it 
without indignation. The darkness is as noon-day 
to him. I cannot steal a thought out of his sights 
though it be never so sudden and short. Then 
think, '*If I pretend to communion and converse 
with my God, he is all holiness, therefore unclean- 
ness can never attain that to which I aspire ; 'What 
communion hath light with darkness, or Christ 
with Belial ?' And shall I loose or hazard the sweet- 
ness of his presence for so base a delight ? How 
can I offer that heart to him in prayer, that hath 
been wallowing in the mire of unclean practice or 
imagination?" Resolve to drive out the assaults 
that you are incident to : " How shall I do, or think 



200 



AN EXPOSITIOIS OF 



thus ? My holy God is looking on me." This 
was Joseph's preservation, ' How shall I do this 
great wickedness, and sin against God ?' 

3. Acquaint yourselves with spiritual delights, 
and this will make a happy diversion from those 
that are sensual and earthly. Somewhat a man 
must have to delight in. It is the philosopher's 
remark, that they that know not the true pleasure 
of the mind, turn to the base pleasures of the 
body. 

Some moral men, seeking higher delight of the 
mind, in their way have persuaded themselves to a 
generaus disdain of their bodies ? How much more 
powerfully may supernatural delights of the soul, 
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, 
wean it from those gross sensual pleasures, that the 
beasts have in common with us, at least from the 
immoderate desire, and all unlawful pursuit of 
them ! Nothing indignifies the soul more than lust. 
When David had sinned this way, it had so made 
havoc of grace within him, that he cries not only 
for cleansing, but for a new creation, as if all were 
undone, ' Create in me a clean heart, and renew a 
right spirit within me;'^ and he found it so slavish 
and ignoble a sin, that he prays to be re-established 
by God with a free and noble spirit. 

4. Increase in the love of Christ; for as that 
grows, there is a decrease of the love of sin, yea, of 
the immoderate love of all inferior things : as the 
sun-beams eat out the fire, this divine and heavenly 
Jove consumes the other. Ail our love is too scarce 
or poor for him, when it is recollected and drawn 
altogether to run only towards hiuj; and therefore 



» Psalm li. 10, 12, 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



201 



there is none to spare upon the flesh, and the 
lusts of it, nor upon any creature, but as he allows 
and appoints. The sense of his love takes up the 
whole soul, and he lodging in it, is that true agnus 
castus which makes it chaste, that bundle of myrrh 
which hath a virtue to preserve the Christian from 
the corruptions of lust. 

That love of Jesus Christ is strong as death, and 
kills all opposite affections ; and indeed it alone is 
worthy of the soul, the noble immortal soul. O 
how is it abased when it is drawn down to sensu- 
ality, and so made a slave to its servant, the flesh ! 
Major sum et ad major a natus (could a Roman phi- 
losopher say) qudm ut sim mancipium corporis ;^ 
am greater, and born to greater things than to be a 
slave to my body." How unworthy is it, that being 
capable of the highest good, the fruition of God, 
w^e should forget ourselves so far as to serve vile 
lust, and forfeit the happiness and pleasures of 
eternity ! Far be it from us : * God hath called us 
to holiness, and not to uncleanness/ says the apos- 
tle.* 

Fly all unlawful and forbidden delights ; and 
those that are lawful, do not engage your hearts to 
them, love them not immoderately : and they can 
scarce be loved without excess, if loved at all. Shall 
I say then, if you use them, yet love them not; re- 
serve that for purer enjoyments P Says not the 
apostle this, ' Let them that rejoice, be as if they 
rejoiced not;' and particularly, * they that marry, 
as if they married not ?' And his reason is weighty, 
* for the fashion of this world passeth away,' &c. 

Remember to what a pure and excellent condi- 



} Seneca. 



'2 1 Thess. iv. ^. 



202 AN EXPOSITION OF 

tion we are called as Christians, and with what a 
price we are bought to be holy ; and let it be our 
firm purpose and study to glorify God in our souls, 
and bodies, for they are his. 



PRECEPT Vlir. 

Thou shall not steal. 

God is the God of order, and not of confusion. 
It is he that hath authorized and appointed pecu- 
liarity of possessions unto men, and withal, that 
society and commerce amongst them, that serves for 
their mutual good; and (property reserved) makes 
one man in what he possesses useful and helpful to 
another : and hath given this precept of his law to 
regulate them in these things, to be the rule of that 
which we call contentation, or justice, — equity to- 
wards our neighbour, in matter of his goods or 
proper possessions. 

This then being the scope of the commandment, 
whatsoever breaks this hedge, is, as comprehended 
under the name of theft, here forbidden. All man- 
ner of injustice and wrong done to our neighbour 
in his estate, whether by violence, or by sleight of 
hand, by force or fraud, yea if it be but so mucli as 
in affection or desire; for (as we have often said) 
the law is spiritual, and binds not only the hands 
but the heart. 

So then, not only gross robberies and thefts are 



THR COiMMANDMENTS. 



203 



here forbiddeii, but all oppression and extortion in 
superiors, all purloining and unfaithfulness in in- 
feriors; too strict exaction in masters, and sloth ful- 
ness in servants, or whatsoever else may tend to 
their master's damage; all bribery, and receiving of 
gifts, to the perverting of justice; all deceit and 
overreaching in commerce, or trading, or bargain- 
in ; taking advantage in buying or selling, or any 
contract, upon the ignorance or simplicity of those 
we deal withal; all desire and seeking of our neigh- 
hour's loss to our gain ; all the degrees of sacrilege 
and simony ; all idleness and neglect in men's par- 
ticular callings, by which they either impoverish 
themselves, and are ' worse than infidels, not pro- 
viding for their families;'^ or, if they have certain 
provision by their callings, in neglecting the duties 
of them, they wrong those from whom, or for whose 
sakes they are so provided, as magistrates and minis- 
ters, who have, or should have honourable mainte- 
nance for their public service, the one in the com- 
monwealth, the other in the church. As it is a 
great sin to curtail or detain what is due that way, 
so it is no less wickedness in them, if they be remiss 
and careless of those duties to which they are 
obliged for the public good. In a word, whosoever 
can digest any kind of undue gain to themselves, 
or do any prejudice to their neighbour in the least, 
are guilty ; yea, they sin against this precept that 
do not with all their power further the advantage 
and good of their neighbour in his outward condi- 
tion, that do not help and relieve those they see in 
want, so far as their ability reaches. 

There is a kind of a right that the poor have to 



VI Tim. V. 8. 



204 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



supply ; it is not merely arbitrary to you. Though 
they have not such a right as to take it at their own 
hand, or to seek it at the houses of human justice, 
yet they have such a right as that your hand ought 
not to detainjt. ' Withhold not good from them to 
whom it is due;'^ which is evidently meant (and in- 
terpreters take it so) of all kind of doing good, even 
that of charity and beneficence to the needy; as 
appears by the following clause, ' when it is in the 
power of thine hand to do it,^ and the rendering of 
the Septuagint kviroielv tov erSerj. It is due; they 
have a right to it, though not such as they can 
implead for before men's courts or judicatures; yet 
in the court of conscience, and in the sight of God, 
it is duly theirs; the word is, from him that is 
Lord of it : " Jt is the bread of the hungry that 
moulds by thee, and the drink of the thirsty that 
sours by thee."^ Although thou art in possession, 
hast superfluity by thee, what he wants is his by 
right, he is lord of it; for the Lord of all hath turned 
over his right to thy poor brother. The Lord himself 
needs it not ; thy goodness cannot reach him : he 
hath furnished thee with such as need it, ana may 
be his receivers, and have warrant from hmi to take 
it up in his stead. And be sure he will acknow- 
ledge the receipt of it; thou hast his own word and 
writ for it, a bill of exchange under his own hand, 
that what you give to the poor be put upon his ac- 
counts. * He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the 
Lord, and he will repay it:'^ and again, * In that 
you did it unto one of these,' says our Saviour, ' ye 
did it unto me.'^ It is the most sure and lasting 

* Prov. iii. 27. 

* Esurientium panis est qui a pud te mucescit, et sitientium 
potus qui apud te acescit. Ambr. 

« Prov. xix. 7. ^ Matt. xxv. 40. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



part of a man's estate that is put into their hand, if 
God be solvent, if he be a sufficient debtor/ It is 
treasure laid up in heaven. 

So then tins precept requires uprightness and 
equity in all our dealings, a desire to right and 
advantage our brethren as ourselves, willing their 
gain and prosperity as our own ; diligence and in- 
dustry in our callings, and giving to all others their 
due. Though men are not obliged to a sottish sim- 
plicity, but ought to endeavour so to understand 
their affairs, that they may avoid circumvention by 
others craft, yet a prudent simplicity is the right 
stamp of a Christian mind, to be single and in- 
genuous, and rather to suffer loss from others, than 
cause them any. In a word, the apostle's rule is 
express and full, ' That no man overreach or de- 
fraud his brother in any matter;'* and he adds a 
very forcible reason, ' because the Lord is the aven- 
ger of all such ; as we have also,^ says he, * fore- 
warned you and testified.' Men are ready to find 
out poor shifts to deceive themselves, when they 
have some way deceived their brother; and to stop 
the mouth of their own conscience with some quib- 
ble, and some slight excuse, and force themselves 
at length to believe they have done no wrong : 
therefore the apostle, to fright them out of their 
shifts, sets before them a more exact Judge, that 
cannot be deceived nor mocked, that shall one 
day unveil the conscience, and blow away these 
vain self-excuses as smoke; and that just Lord 
will punish all injustice : ' He is the avenger of all 
such.* 

^ Quas dederis solas semper habebis opes.—" Thy benevo- 
lences are thy true riches." 
» I Thess. iv. 16. 



206 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



At the first view, a man would think the breach 
of this commandment concerns but few persons, 
some thieves and robbers, and some professed de- 
ceivers, or if you add some cozening' tradesmen 
and merchants ; but the truth is, there is scarce any 
of the commandments so universally and frequently 
broken, and whereof the breach is so little observed, 
and therefore so seldom repented of by the greatest 
part. As the apostle James says, ' He is a perfect 
man that offends not in his words;' truly he is a 
rare man that offends not, and that remarkably, 
if men vi^ould remark themselves, against this com- 
mandment, Thou shall not steal. 

To say nothing of the oppression and hard exac- 
tions of such as are superiors of lands, grinding the 
faces of the poor, and squeezing them till the blood 
come ; and so putting in the same blood of the 
poor amongst their estates, that many times proves 
a canker to ali the rest; and the thievishness of 
servants, and of the poorer sort, making no con- 
science at all of whatsoever they can filch from 
their masters, or those that are richer than they, 
counting all they can snatch good booty and law- 
ful prize : to pass by likewise the particular de- 
ceits that are usual in several callings, and are in 
corporate with them through long custom, and 
become a part of the mystery of those callings, 
and therefore men dispense with themselves in 
them, as the inseparable sin of their calling, and 
have no remorse for them : not to insist on these 
and such like, consider how frequently this meiim 
et tuum, " mine and thine," proves the apple of 
strife betwixt the nearest friends, and divides their 
affections, and begets debates amongst them ; 
parents, and children, and brethren, &i And 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 207 

certainly there is always some unjust desire on one 
side in those contentions, and sometimes on both 
sides. How few are there that have hearts so 
weaned from the world, as in all things to prefer 
the smallest point of equity to the greatest tempta- 
tion of gain ! that in their affairs, and all that 
concerns them, are universally careful to deal with 
an even hand and even heart; and to keep close to 
that golden rule drawn in nature, but almost lost 
and smothered in the rubbish and corruption of 
nature, but drawn anew by our Saviour's hand, 
not only in his gospel, but in the hearts of his real 
followers, ' that which thou wouldst have others 
do to thee, do thou unto them that when they 
have any thing to transact, wherein is their brother's 
interest and their own, do in their thoughts change 
places with him, set him in their own room, and 
themselves in his, and deal v/ith him after that 
manner; that think, " What would I be willing to 
have done to me were I he ? That same will I do to 
him. Were I in that poor m.an^s condition that 
begs an alms, would I not rather have some relief, 
than a churlish, or at least, an empty answer ? 
Were I he that buys, would I not, and might 
I not justly and reasonably will to have it so, that 
no more be exacted of me than the right and due 
price ? Then, so' will I use him." How few are 
there that walk (I say) by this rule ! and yet all that 
do not thus, are breakers of this commandment in 
the sight of God. 

How few, that are inviolable observers of equity, 
and are truly liberal and bountiful, answerably to 
their power ! that will sometimes on purpose bate 
a dish from their table, or a lace from their garment, 
not to make their stock greater, but to bestow on 



208 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



the poor ; that are truly desirous of the good and 
prosperity of others, and further it all they can ! 

Tt is to be like God ; this is the particular wherein 
likeness to our heavenly Father is pressed ; ^ and this 
is meant by the proverb, Man is a god to his fel- 
low-man."^ Certainly were we acquainted with it, it 
is more true delight to be not only just but liberal, 
than to possess much ; it is not to possess, but to be 
possessed by it, to have heaps, and no heart nor powder 
to use them. He that is thus, doth not only defraud 
others but himself, steals from his own necessities 
to sacrifice to his god, his chest or bag.^ When a 
man hath such a sum, and though he hath use for 
it dares not break it, what is it better than if it were 
still under ground in the mine, it is no more at his 
service; yea, so much the worse that he is racked 
betwixt plenty and want, betwixt having and not 
having it. 

Both the covetous and the prodigal sin against 
this commandment: the covetous by unjust ways 
of gaining, and unjust keeping what he hath 
gained, keeping it up both from others and him- 
self ; and the prodigal by profuseness, making 
foolish wants to himself, that drive him upon un- 
just ways of supply.^ Thus, he that is prodigal, 
must be covetous too; and though men think not 
so, these two vices that seem so opposite, not only 
may, but do often dwell together, and covetous- 
ness is prodigality's purveyor, being tire for it to 
feed it, for otherwise it could not subsist, but would 
starve within a while. Here then both avarice 

* Matt. V. 48. 2 Homo homini deus. 
3 Quicquid omnibus abst^lit, sibi negat. 

* Turpitur amittens quod turpius reparet. — SeiL 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



209 



and prodigality are condemned ; only Irue equity, 
and frugal and wise liberality are obedience to it. 

The main causes of all unjust and illiberal deal- 
ing are these two, 1. Diffidence or distrust of the 
divine providence and goodness. 2. And that 
irXeove^La, the fond desire of having much."^ 

1. When a man doth not fully trust God with 
providing for him, and blessing him in just and 
lawful ways, but apprehends want unless he take 
some more liberty and elbow-room ; this makes 
him step now and then out of the way, to catch at 
undue gain by fraud and overreaching, or some 
such way. But this is a most foolish course. This 
is to break loose out of God's fatherly hand, and so 
to forego all that we can look for from him, and to 
take ways of our own, to choose rather to go a 
shifting for ourselves in the crooked and accursed 
ways of unrighteousness, than to be at his pro- 
viding.. Labour therefore for fixed belief of his 
wisdom and goodness, and all- sufficiency, and 
then the greatest straits and wants will not drive 
you to any indirect ways, wherein you run from 
him, but will still draw you nearer to himself, and 
there you will stay and wait upon his iiand till he 
supply you. 

2. Desire of having much, or covetousness, whe- 
ther it be to hoard up or lavish out. But this is a 
madness ; this desire of having much is never cured 
by having much, it is an unsatiable dog-hunger.^ 

That known determination of the moralist was 
the most true, that to be truly rich, is not to have 
much, but to desire little. Labour then not to de- 

* Amor sceleratus habendi, 

* BovXi/ii'a, canina fames. 

P 



210 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



sire much ; or rather desire much, desire to have 
the Lord for your portion ;^ wd if you indeed de- 
sire him, you shall have him; and if you have him, 
you cannot but be satisfied, for he is all: to him 
therefore be all praise, honour, and glory for ever. 



PRECEPT IX. 

Thou shah not bear false witness against thy neigh- 
hour. 

The apostle St. James, in that sharp but most 
true censure of the tongue, might well call it an 
unruly evil. There are but ten precepts or words 
of the law of God, and you see two of them, so far 
as concerns the outward organ and vent of the sins 
there forbidden, are bestowed on it, tending, if not 
only, yet mainly to keep it in order; one in the 
first table, and this other in the second, as being 
ready to fly out both against God and man, if not 
thus bridled. 

The end of this commandment is to guard the 
good name of men from injury, as the former doth 
his goods ; this possession being no less, yea, much 
more precious than the other; and, because the 
great robber and murderer of a good name, is the 
mischievous detracting tongue, acted by a malig- 
nant heart, it requires in the heart a charitable 

• Non est illud desiderium TrXeove^ia sed irave^ia. " That 
desire is not a coveting of more, but a possessing of all." 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



211 



tenderness of the good name of our brethren, and 
that will certainly prove truth and charitable 
speech in the tongue. 

Though divines here usually speak of lying, in 
the general notion and extent of it, and not amiss, 
being most of all exercised in the kind here men- 
tioned ; yet there be such lies, as may be more 
fitly reputed a breach of some other commandment ; 
and possibly, the sin of lying in general, as it is a 
lie, a discrepance of the speech from the mind, and 
so a subverting of the divine ordinance set in na- 
ture, making that which he hath made the inter- 
preter of the mind, to be the disguiser of it, and 
withal disregarding God as the searcher of the 
heart, and sovereign witness of truth, and avenger 
of falsehood ; I say, thus it may possibly be more 
proper to refer it to another commandment, parti- 
cularly to the third : but it imports not much to be 
very punctual in this ; it is seldom or never that 
one commandment is broke alone, most sins are 
complicate disobedience, and in some sins, the 
breach of many at once is very apparent. As to 
instance, in perjury, if it be to testify a falsehood 
against our brethren, both the third commandment 
and this ninth are violate at once; and if it be in 
such a thing as toucheth his life, the sixth likewise 
suffers with them. 

This perjury or false testimony in a public judi- 
ciary way, is, we see, by the express words and 
letter of the command forbidden, as the highest and 
most heinous wrong of this kind. But under the 
name of this (as it is in the other commandments) 
all the other kinds and deo^rees of offence ao^ainst 
our neighbour's good name are comprised. 1. All 
private ways of calumny and false imputation. 

p 2 



212 



AN EXPOSITION OP 



2. All ungrounded and false surmises or suspicions, 
all uncharitable construction of others' actions and 
carriage. 3. Strict remarking of the faults of others, 
without any calling so to do, or honest intention 
of their good ; which appears, if, having observed 
any thing that of truth is reprovable, we seek not 
to reclaim them by secret and friendly admonition, 
but passing by themselves divulge it abroad to 
others : for this is a most foolish self-deceit to think, 
that because it is not forged, but true that thou 
speakest, this keeps thee free of the command- 
ment ; no, thy false intention and malice^ makes 
it calumny and falsehood in thee, although for the 
matter of it, what thou sayest be most true. All 
thou gainest by it is, that thou dost tumble and 
bemire thyself in the sin of another, and makest it 
possibly more thine, than it is his own, that com- 
mitted it ; for he, may be, hath some touch of re- 
morse for it; whereas it is evident thou delightest 
in it : and though thou preface it with a whining 
feigned regret and semblance of pitying him, and 
add withal some word of commending him in some- 
what else, this is but the gilding and sugaring the 
pill to make men swallow it the more easily, and 
thy bitter malice pass unperceived. They that by 
their calling ought to watch over the lives of others, 
must do it faithfully and diligently, admonishing 
and rebuking privately ; and where that prevails 
not, they may, yea, they ought to do it more pub- 
licly, but all in love, seeking nothing but the glory 
of God and the salvation of souls. 4. Easy hear- 
ing and entertaining of mis-reports, and detraction 

' 'A\r]9evovreQ sv ayoLTryy Eph. iv 15. — We must not only 
fpeak the truth, but in love. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



213 



when others speak them/ this is that which main- 
tains and gives substance to calumny, otherwise it 
would starve and die of itself, if nobody took it in 
and g-ave it lodging. When malice pours it out, if 
our ears be shut against it, and there be no vessel 
to receive it, it would fall like water upon the 
ground, and could no more be gathered up. But 
there is that same busy humour that men have, — it 
is very busy, and yet the most have of it more or 
less, — a kind of delight and contentment to hear evil 
of others, unless it be of such as they affect ; to 
hear others slighted and disesteemed, that they rea- 
dily drink in, not without some pleasure, whatsoever 
is spoken of this kind. 'The ear trielh the words,' 
as he says in Job, ' as the mouth tasteth meats 
but certainly the most ears are perverse and dis- 
tempered in their taste, as some kind of palates 
are ; they can find sweetness in sour calumny. But, 
because men understand one another's diet in this, 
that the most are so ; this is the very thing that 
keeps up the trade, makes backbiting and detrac- 
tions abound so in the world, and verifies that 
known observation in the most, that the slanderer 
wounds three at once, himself, — him he speaks of, 
and him that hears. For this third, truly it is in his 
option to be none of the number; if he will, he 
may shift his part of the blow, by not believing the 
slander ; yea, may beat it back again with ease 
upon the slanderer himself by a check or frown, 
and add that stroke of a repulse to the wound of 
guiltiness he gives himself 5. They offend that 
seek in any kind, at the expense of the good name 
and esteem of others, to increase their own, out of 



* £xod. xxiii. 1. 



214 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



others ruins to make up themselves ;^ and therefore 
pull down as much as they can, and are glad to 
have others to help them to detract from the repute 
of their brethren, particularly any that are in like- 
lihood to surpass and obscure them ; and for this 
reason incline always rather to hear and speak of 
the imperfections and dispraise of others, than to 
their advantage, and would willingly (Ottoman 
like) kill the good name of their brethren, that 
theirs may reign alone. ^ This is a vile disease, and 
such as cannot be incident to any mind that is 
truly virtuous and gracious ; no, such need not this 
base dishonest way to raise themselves, but are 
glad to see virtue, and whatsoever is praiseworthy, 
to flourish in whomsoever. These are lovers of God 
indeed, and his glory, and not their own ; and 
therefore as all he bestows on themselves, they 
venture back the honour of it to him, so they are 
glad to see many enriched with his best gifts. For 
seeing all good that all have belongs to God, as the 
sovereign owner and dispenser, this contents and 
rejoices his children when they see many partake 
of his bounty, for the more is his glory : and as in 
love to their brethren, they are always willing to 
take notice of what is commendable in them, and 
to commend it, so they do this the more willingly, 

• Ex alieni nominis jactura gradum sibi faciunt ad gloriam. 
Sallust. — Out of the ruin of another man's fame, they make a 
stepping-stone to their own." 

'•^ The Rabbins frequently condemn this, as, — The man 
who seeks honour to himself from the dishonour of his friend, 
has no share in the happiness to come." — HammWi Cabbed. 
" He who seeks his own praise by despising others, is the most 
wretched of men " — Bereshith Rabba. Who is worthy of 
respect ? The man who treats others with respect." — Firke 
Avoth, 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



2lS 



because they know that all praise of g"oodness at 
last terminates and ends in God, as Solomon says 
of the rivers, ' Unto the place from whence they 
come, thither they return again.' 6. They sin 
against this commandment, that although they no 
way wrong their neighbours' good name, yet are 
not careful to do their utmost to right it when it 
suffers, to remove aspersions from them, and to 
clear them all that may be. 

For this is here required, to desire and delight 
in, and further the good name of others, even as 
own; to look most willingly on the fairest side of 
their actions, and take them in the best sense, and 
be as inventive of favourable constructions (yet 
without favouring vice) as malice is witty to misin- 
terpret to the worst : to observe the commendable 
virtues of our brethren, and pass by their failings; 
as many, like scurvy flies, skip over what is sound 
in men, and love to sit upon their sores. 

It is lamentable to consider how much this evil 
of mutual detraction, and supplanting the good 
name one of another, is rooted in man's corrupt na- 
ture, and how it spreads and grows in their con- 
verse, as the apostle St. Paul cites it out of the 
Psalmist, as the description of our nature, ' Their 
throat is an open sepulchre, they have deceitful 
tongues, and the poison of asps is under their lips.'* 
Their throat an open sepulchre, full of the bones as 
it were of others' good names that they have de- 
voured : and, amongst other their endowments, 
they are ^whisperers, backbiters, despiteful/ ^ But it 
is strange that Christians should retain so much of 
these evils, that profess themselves renewed, and 



* Rom. iii. 



* Rom. 1. 



216 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



sanctified, and guided by the Spirit of God. Con- 
sider in your visits, and discourses, if something 
of this kind doth not entertain you often, and lavish 
away that time you might spend in mutual edifi- 
cations, abusing it to descant upon the actions and 
life of others, in such a way as neither concerns nor 
profits us, taking an impertinent foolish delight in 
enquiring and knowing how this party lives, and 
the other.^ This is a very common disease, as Na- 
zianzen observes. And thus men are most stran- 
gers at home ; have not leisure to study and know 
and censure themselves, they are so busied about 
others. It may be, there is not always a height ot 
malice in their discourses, but yet, by much bab- 
bling to no purpose, they slide into idle detraction 
and censure of others besides their intention, for 
' in multitude of words there wants not sin.' 

And the greatest part are so accustomed to this 
way, that if they be put out of it, they must sit 
dumb and say nothing. There is, I confess, a 
prudent observation of the actions of others, a 
reading of men, as they call it, and it may be by 
a Christian done with Christian prudence and be- 
nefit ; and there may be too an useful way of 
men's imparting their observation of this kind one 
to another concerning the good and evil, the abili- 
ties more o*r less that they remark in the world ; but 
truly it is hard to find such as can do this aright, 
and know they agree in their purpose with honest 

• Curiosum genus, ad cognoscendam vitam alienam ; desidio. 
sum, ad corrigeiidam suam. Aug. Conf. lib. x. cap. 3. — A 
race full of curiosity in prying into other people's lives, but 
lazy in amending their own." Ov^ev ovnoQ ijSv rolg dvOpo)- 
TTOig, (1)Q TO XaXeXv rd dWorpia' Most men find nothing 
SO sweet as to speak against their neighbours." 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



217 



harmless minds, intending evil to none, but good 
to themselves, and admitting of nothing but what 
suits with this. Amongst a throng of acquaint- 
ance a man shall, it may be, find very few by 
whose conversation he may be really bettered, and 
that return him some benefit for the expense of his 
time in their society. Howsoever, beware of such 
as delight in vanity and lying, and defaming of 
others, and withdraw yourselves from them, and 
set a watch before your own lips. Learn to know 
the fit season of silence and speech, for that is a 
very great point of wisdom, and will help very 
much to the observing this precept, to give your 
tongue to be governed by wisdom and piety ; let 
it not be as a thorny bush, pricking and hurting 
those that are about you, nor altogether a barren 
tree yielding nothing ; but a fruitful tree, a ' tree 
of life to your neighbour,' as Solomon calls the 
tongue of the righteous. 

And let your hearts be possessed with those two 
excellent graces, humility and charity : then will 
your tongue not be in danger of hurting your 
neighbour, for it is pride and self-love makes men 
delight in that. Those are the idols to which men 
make sacrifice of the good name and reputation of 
others. The humble man delights in self-dises- 
teem, and is glad to see his brethren's name flourish : 
it is pleasing music to him to hear the virtues of 
others acknowledged and commended, and a harsh 
discord to his lowly thoughts to hear any thing of 
his own. And the other, charity, thinks no evil, is 
so far from casting false aspersions on any, that it 
rather casts a veil upon true failings and blemishes : 
' love covers a multitude of sins it is like God s 



218 AN EXPOSITION OF 

love that begets it, which covers all the sins of his 
own children. 



PRECEPT X. 

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour s house, thou shalt 
not covet thy neighbour s wife, nor his man-servant, 
nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor 
any thing that is thy neighbour s. 

It is a known truth, that there is no sound cure of 
diseases without the removal of their inward cause; 
therefore this second table of the law, containing the 
rule of equity for the redress of unrighteousness in 
men's dealing one with another, doth in this last 
precept of it strike at the very root of that unright- 
eousness, the corrupt desires and evil concupiscence 
of the heart: thou shalt not covet. 

The Romish division of this into two, is so 
grossly absurd, and so contrary both to the voice of 
antiquity and reason, that it needs not stay us 
much to show it such. The thing forbidden is one, 
thou shalt not covet ; and if the several things not 
to be coveted divide it, it will be five or six, as 
well as two. Though it be Peter's pretended 
sword makes the division, yet certainly it is not 
Paul's 6pdoTOf.ieip, (rightly dividing ; 2 Tim. ii. 15,) 
not a dividing of the word aright, but cutting it as 
it were besides the joint. The truth is, they would 
never have mistook so far as to have offered at this 
division, were they not driven upon it by an evil 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



219 



necessity of their own making- ; because they have 
quite cut out the second, they are forced, for 
making up the number, to cut this in two. This is 
but to salve a first wrong with a second ; it is a 
disease in the first process of digestion, and no cor- 
rection of it in the second,"^ as the physicians 
speak. Having smothered one commandment, 
they would have this divided, as the harlot the 
living child. 

The subject of this commandment, that which 
it forbids, is not, I confess, original sin in its 
nature and whole latitude ; no, nor all kind of 
sinful motions immediately arising from it, but 
such as concern human things, belonging to this 
second table as their rule ; as is clear in all the 
particulars named in the commandment, and the 
general word that closes it including the rest, and 
all other things of that kind : * nor any thing that is 
thy neighbours' Nor is it needful (with others) 
for the distinguishing this precept from the rest, to 
call this concupiscence here forbidden, only the 
first risings of it in the heart, without consent, 
whereas the other commandments forbid the con- 
sent of the will ; I conceive there is no danger to 
say, that both are forbidden, both in this and the 
rest, but in this more expressly. 

For what great necessity is there of such subtle 
distinguishing? May not this be sufficient, that 
what is included in the other commandments duly 
understood, it pleased the Divine wisdom to deli- 
ver in this last more expressly, that none might 
pretend ignorance, and so to provide for the more 
exact observance of justice and equity amongst 

* Vitium primae concoctionis quod non corrigitur in secunda.] 



220 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



men in their actions, by a particular law g-iven to 
the heart, the fountain of them, regulating it in its 
disposition and motions, even the very first stirrings 
of it, which do most discover its disposition? 

And that this is no tautology, nor a superfluous 
labour, unsuiting the exquisite brevity of this law, 
we shall easily confess, if we consider, that natural 
hypocrisy and self-indulgence that is in men, tliat 
makes them still less regard the temper and actings 
of their hearts, than their outward carriage, not- 
withstanding this express commandment concern- 
ing it. How much more would they have thought 
their thoughts, at least such as proceed not to full 
consent, exempted from the law, if there had been 
nothing spoke of them, but they only included in 
the other precepts ? We know how the doctors of 
Rome extenuate the matter, and how favourable 
their opinion is in this point, notwithstanding this 
clear voice of the law of God condemning all con- 
cupiscence. The apostle St. Paul confesses inge- 
nuously his own short-sightedness, though a Pha- 
risee instructed in the law, that unless the law had 
said, ^ Thou shalt not lust,'^ he had not found it 
out in the other commandments, nor known the 
sinfulness of it. 

This all-wise Lawgiver knew both the blindness 
of man s mind, and the hypocrisy and deceitful- 
ness of his heart, and therefore takes away all pre- 
text, and turns him out of all excuse, giving this 
last commandment expressly concerning the heart, 
and so teaching him the exact and spiritual nature 
of all the rest. 

This commandment pursues the iniquity of man 



* Ilom. vii. 7 . 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



221 



into its beginning' and source. Our Saviour calls 
the evil heart, an ' evil treasure it is an inexhaust- 
ible treasure of evil; yea, it diminisheth not at all, 
but increaseth rather by spending ; the acting of 
sin, confirming and augmenting the corrupt habit 
of it in the heart: ' Out of this evil treasure issue 
forth those pollutions that defile the whole man, 
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,' &c.* 

It is not proper here to speak at large of the first 
motions of sin in general, and of the way to diffe- 
rence (if any such can be given as certain) the in- 
jections of Satan ; evil thoughts darted in by him, 
and such as spring immediately from that corrup- 
tion that lodgeth within our own breasts, and other 
things that concern the subject. Only this we 
ought to observe as pertinent and useful, that if we 
did consider the purity of the law of God, and the 
impurity of our own hearts, the continual risings 
of sipfbl concupiscences with us, that stain us and 
all our actions, this would lay us a great deal 
lower in our own opinion than usually we are. 
'The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under 
sin/^ says the apostle. 

Men think it is well with them, and they please 
themselves to think so, and glory in it, that their 
whole life hath been outwardly unblamable, and 
possibly free from the secret commission of gross 
sins But would they that are thus most spotless, 
look a little deeper inward upon the incessant 
workings of vain sinful thoughts, that at least 
touch upon the affection, and stir it somewhat ; 
and consider their hearts naturally like boiling 



» Matt. XV. 19. 



2 Rom. vii. 14. 



222 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



pots, still sending up this scum of evil concupis- 
cence, and as a fountain casteth forth her waters, as 
Jeremy speaks, this bitter poison-spring still stream- 
ing forth, and even in the best not fully dried 
up ; * certainly the due sight of these would abate 
much of those gay thoughts that any can have of 
themselves, and from the best and most sensible 
would draw out the apostle's word, ' O wretched 
man that I am, who shall deliver me,' &c.^ There 
is nothing that doth more certainly both humble 
and grieve the godly man, than the sense of this ; 
and because till then it will not cease to vex him, 
nothing makes him more long for the day of his 
full deliverance, and makes him cry, ' O how long, 
O Lord ; how long ?' 

We are taught by this commandment that 
great point of spiritual prudence, to observe the 
beginnings and conception of sin within us, and to 
crush it then when it is weakest, before it pass on 
in its usual gradation, as the apostle St. James 
makes it : ' But every man is tempted, when he is 
drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then 
when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; 
and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 
If it draw us away but to hear it, it will entice us, 
take us with delight, and then it will by that work 
us to consent, and having so conceived, it will bring 
forth sin, and sin finished will bring forth death. 

Again, because (as we see) the very concupiscence 
itself, though it proceed no further, pollutes and 

* There are three transgressions, say the Talmudists, from 
which a man can no day ever in this life be free ; — the thoughts 
of sin, wanderings in prayer, and an evil tongue. 

» Rom. vii. 24. ^ jam. i. 14, 15. 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



223 



leaves a stain behind it ; this calls for our dili- 
gence, to seek that renovation and habitual purity 
of heart infused from above, and the daily increase 
of it, being begun, that may free us more and more 
from that depraved concupiscence and the defile- 
ments of it. Think it not enough to cleanse the 
tongue and the hands, but above all endeavour for 
cleanness of heart, and that will keep all the rest 
clean. * Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify 
your hearts, ye double-minded.'^ 'O Jerusalem, 
wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou may est 
be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge 
with thee.'* 

The concupiscence particularly here forbid, we 
see is an inordinate desire, or the least beginning 
of such a desire of those outward things that belong 
not to us; thy neighbour's house, &c. for all breach 
of the other commandments of this second table 
have their rise and beginning from such desire ; 
therefore this is set last, as the hedge to guard all 
the rest from violation : for certainly he that flies 
the least motion of a wrongful thought, will never 
proceed to any injurious word or action. So then, 
this commandment is broken by the least envious 
look upon any good of others, or the least bendings 
of mind after it for ourselves, and by that common 
mischief of self-love, as the very thing that gives 
life to all such undue desires, and by that common 
•folly of discontent at our own estate, which begets 
a wishing for that of others ; and this, though it be 
not joined with an express desire of their loss or 
hurt, yet because it is the seed and principle of in- 
justice, therefore it is sinful, and here forbidden. 



' James, iv. 8. 



2 Jer. iv. 14. 



224 



AN EXPOSITION OF 



And, on the contrary, much of the observance of 
this precept lies in that avrapKEia, that contented- 
ness and satisfaction of mind with our own estate, 
which will surely keep us free from this disordered 
coveting Therefore primely labour to have that 
wise and sweet contentation dwelling within you, 
and banish all contrary thoughts, by these and 
other such-like considerations, 

1. If you do indeed believe that it is the sove- 
reign hand of God that ' divides to the nations their 
inheritance,' as Moses speaks, Deut. xxxii.. 8 ; and 
so likewise to particular men, that he carves to 
every one their condition and place in the world, 
you cannot but think he hath done it more wisely 
than men could do for themselves. They could 
never agree upon it, every man would think it best 
for himself to be in the best and highest condition, 
and that is not possible ; but it is best for the mak- 
ing up of the universe, that there be those differ- 
ences God hath made, and from the highest to the 
lowest he hath set each one in that station he 
thought good. There is not a common soldier in 
an army but would wish to be a commander; and 
so, if each might have his will, all would command 
and none obey. The like holds in masters and ser- 
vants, and in all such other differences. So then, 
seeing those differences are in the world, and see- 
ing it wholly belongs to him that rules the world 
to dispose of them, our part is no more but con- 
tentedly to accept of his disposal, and to serve him 
in the station where he hath set us. 

2. If you be such as have evidence you are the 
children of God, then you know he doth not only 
allot your condition wisely, but withal in peculiar 
love and favour; he perfectly knows what outward 



THE COMMANDMENTS. 



estate is particularly fittest for you, and will con- 
duce most to your highest good, and will not miss 
to give you that, and no other. And certainly it is 
true in matter of estate, as of our garments — not that 
which is largest, but that which fits us best, is best 
for us. 

3. Consider that no outward condition hath con- 
tentment in it of itself, this must arise from some- 
what within. Men see the great attendance and 
train of servants that wait upon princes and other 
great persons, but they see not the train of cares 
and perplexing thoughts that many times go along 
too, and are more inseparable attendants than any 
of the rest ; they see their fine clothes and stately 
buildings, but they see not the secret malcontents 
and vexations that dwell with them, and are the 
very linings of their rich apparel. Light things 
often discontent them : look but on their very pas- 
times and recreations, they are sometimes as much 
troubled with disappointment in those, as the poor 
man is wearied with his labour. It was not a much 
greater cross that vexed Haman : all his advance- 
ment availed not without Mordecai's courtesy : a 
strange disease, that he felt more the pain of ano- 
ther man's stiff knee, than the contentment of all 
his honours. But whoso knew their deeper vexa- 
tions would admire them less, when crossed in their 
ambition or friends; or the husband and wife not 
finding that harmony of dispositions and affec- 
tions : few or none but have something that a man 
w^ould willingly leave out, if he were for his wish 
to be m their condition. The shorter and surer 
way then to contentment is, to be contentedly what 
he is. 

4. Consider those that are below you, and in a 



226 



AN EXPOSITION, &C. 



far meaner condition ; and by that argue yourself, 
not only to contentment, but to thankfulness. We 
pervert all, when we look below us, it raises our 
pride ; and when above us, it casts us into discon- 
tent : might we not as well contrariwise draw hu- 
mility out of the one, and contentment out of the 
other? 

5. Seek to be assured that God is yours, then 
whatsoever others possess, you will be sure not to 
covet it, nor envy them. Those that have most, 
you will pity, if they want him; and those that 
have him, you will have no evil at them for sharing 
with you, but love them the more : for that infinite 
good is enough for all that choose him, and none 
do so but those whom he hath first chosen in eter- 
nal love. 



DISCOURSES. 



\ 



1 



229 



A DISCOURSE 

ON 

MATTHEW, XXII. 37, 38, 39. 

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind ; and thy neighbour as thyself. 

The wisdom and meekness of our Saviour is the 
more remarkable, and shines the brighter, by the 
malice of his adversaries; and their cavils and 
tempting questions occasion our benefit and instruc- 
tion. Thus here. 

We see the words are the sum of the whole law, 
and they are taken out of the book of the law. 
They are called two commandments ; the former is 
the sum of the first, the latter of the second table. 
'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,' &c. ' that is,* 
says our Saviour, ' the first and great command- 
ment.' Our first obligement is to God, and through 
him and for his sake to men : * the second is like 
to it.' 

Seems it not rather contrary, than like to the for- 
mer ? Whereas in the former the whole stream of 
love is directed in one undivided current towards 
Godj this other commandment seems to cut up a 



230 



A DISCOURSE ON MATTHEW, XXII. 



new channel for it, and to turn a great part of it to 
men, ' thy neighbour as thyself.' No, they are not 
contrary, if we take them right ; yea, they do not 
only agree, but are inseparable; they do not divide 
our love, but they set it in its right course. First 
wholly to God, as the sovereign good, and only for 
himself worthy to be loved ; and then back from 
him, it is according to his own will derived down- 
wards to our neighbour ; for then only we love 
both ourselves and others aright, when we make 
our love to him the reason and the rule of both.* 
So then our love is not to be immediately divided be- 
twixt him and our neighbour, or any creature ; but 
is first all to be bestowed on him, and then he dif- 
fuses, by way of reflexion, so much of it upon others 
as he thinks fit. Being all in his hands, it is at his 
disposal, and that which he disposes elsewhere as 
here, (' thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,') it 
is not taken off from him, but abiding still in him, 
as in its natural place, as light doth in the sun, 
flows forth from him by such an emanation as di- 
vides it not ; as beams flow forth from the sun and 
enlighten the air, and yet are not cut off from it. 

So then the second is like unto the first, because 
it springs from it, and depends on it, it commands 
the same affection, love, in the former placed on 
God, and in this extended from him to our neigh- 
bour. And like in this too, that as the former is 
the sum of the first table, and so the first and great 

' Minus enim te amat, qui aliquid prseter te amat, et non 
propter te. Incipiat homo amare Deum, et non amabit in ho- 
mine nisi Deum. Aug. — " He loves God defectively, who loves 
any thing besides God, and not for the sake of God. Let a man 
begin truly to love God, and he will love nothing in man but 
God," 



A DISCOURSE ON MATTHEW, XXII. 231 



commandment; so this is the sum of the second 
table, and therefore next unto it in greatness and 
importance. 

All the precepts that can be found in the law 
and prophets are reducible to these/ and all obe- 
dience depends upon this love. 1. Consider this, 
how those are the sum of this law. 2. Particularly 
in themselves. 

Not only because it is love facilitates all obedi- 
ence, and is the true principle of it, that makes it 
both easy to us, and acceptable to God ; but besides 
this, that love disposes the soul for all kind of obe- 
dience, this very act of love is in effect all that is 
commanded in the law. For the first laid to the 
first table, it is so much one with the first com- 
mandment, that it expresses most fitly the positive 
of it, opposite to that which is there forbidden, 
* Thou shalt have no other Gods before me,^ but 
shalt have me alone for thy God, or bestow all 
divine affection, and all worship that is the sign 
and expression of it, upon me only ;^ ' Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,' &c. And 
if thou lovest me alone, thou wilt not decline to any 
kind of false worship,^ that were to vitiate thy affec- 
tion, and to break that conjugal love and fidelity to 
which thou art bound by covenant, being my people 
as by a spiritual marriage." Therefore is idolatry so 
frequently called, in the phrase of the prophets, 
adultery and uncleanness. And in the letter of that 
commandment, the Lord uses that word, which in 
its usual sense is conjugal, and relates to marriage, 
' I am a jealous God and in the close of that pre-* 



' Verse 40. 



^ 1st. Comm. 



^ 2nd. Comm. 



232 A DISCOURSE ON MATTHEW, XXII. 



cept expresseth particularly this affection of love, 
as particularly interested in it, though extended to 
all the rest, ' I show mercy to thousands of them 
that love me.' 

Is it not a genuine property of love to honour 
and respect the name of those whom we love ? * 
and therefore it is altogether inconsistent with the 
love of God to vilify and abuse his name. 

They that understand the true use of that 
holy rest of the Sabbath-day/ do know that it 
frees the soul, and makes it vacant from earthly 
things for this purpose, that it may fully apply 
itself to the worship and contemplation of God, 
and converse with him at greater length. Then 
certainly where there is this entire love to God, 
this will not weigh heavy, will be no grievous 
task to it ; it will embrac d gladly obey this com- 
mandment, not only as its duty, but as its great 
delight: for there is nothing that love rejoices in 
more, than in the converse and society of those on 
whom it is placed ; it would willingly bestow most 
of its lime that way, and thinks all hours too short 
that are spent in that society. Therefore not only 
they that profanely break, but they that keep it hea- 
vily and wearily, that find it rather a burden than 
a delight, may justly suspect that the love of God 
IS not in them ; but he that keeps his day cheer- 
fully, and loves it, because on it he may more 
liberally solace and refresh himself in God, may 
safely take it as an evidence of his love to God. 

Now, that after the same manner the love of our 
neighbour is the sum of the second table, the 



3d. Comm. 



' 4th. Comm. 



A DISCOLTRSE ON MATTHEW, XXII. 



233 



apostle St. Paul proves for us clearly and briefly.* 
All the commandments touching our neighbour are 
for guarding him from evil and injury. Now * love 
worketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore love is 
the fulfilling of the law.' He that truly loves his 
neighbour as himself, will be as loath to wrong 
him as to wrong himself, either in that honour and 
respect that is due to him, or in his life or chastity, 
or goods or good name, or to lodge so much as an 
unjust desire or thought, because that is the be- 
ginning and conception of real injury. In a word, 
the great disorder and crookedness of the corrupt 
heart of man, consists in self-love ; it is the very 
root of all sin both against God and man ; for no 
commits any offence, but it is some way to 
profit or please himself It was a high enormity 
of self-love, that brought forth the very first sin or 
mankind. That was the bait that took more than 
either the colour or taste of the apple, that it was 
desirable for knowledo^e: it was in that that the 
main strength of the temptation lay, ' Ye shall be 
as gods, knowing good and evil.* And was it not 
deep self-love to affect that ? And it is still thus, 
though we feel the miserable fruits of that tree ; 
the same self-love possesses us still, that to please 
our own humour and lusts, our pride, or covetous- 
ness, or voluptuousness, we break the law of God, 
the law of piety, and of equity and charity to men. 
Therefore the apostle, foretelling the iniquities and 
impieties of the last times, ^ covetous, boasters,' &c. 
and ' lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of 
God he sets that on the front, as the chief lead- 
ing evil, and the source of all the rest, ^lovers of 



' Rom. xiii. 9, 10, 



234 A DISCOURSE ON MATTHEAV, XXII. 



their own selves.' Men shall be lovers of them- 
selves, therefore ^covetous;' and ' lovers of them- 
selves more than lovers of God/ because ^ lovers of 
their own selves.' ^ Therefore this is the sum of that 
which God requires in his holy law, the reforming 
of our love, which is the commanding passion of 
the soul, and wheels all the rest about with it in 
good or evil. 

And its reformation is in this, recalling it from 
ourselves unto God, and reflecting it from God to 
our brethren ; loving ourselves sovereignly by cor- 
rupt nature, we are enemies to God, and haters of 
him, and cannot love our neighbours but only in 
reference to ourselves, and so far as it profits or 
pieaseth us do so, and not in order and respect unto 
God. The highest and the true redress of this dis- 
order, is that which we have here in these two pre- 
cepts as the substance of all ; first that all our love 
ascend to God, and then what is due to men de- 
scend from thence, and so passing that way it is 
purified and refined^ and is subordinate and con- 
formed to our love of him above all, which is the 
first and great commandment. 

Here we have the supreme object of love, to 
whom it is due, ' the Lord thy God,* and the mea- 
sure of it, which is indeed to know no measure,' 

with all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy mind,' 
(for which in Deut. 'thy strength,') Luke hath 
both ; the difference is none, for all mean that the 

^ 2 Tim. iii. 2. 

2 Modus est nescire modum; subtilius ista distinguere facile 
est magis quam solid um. — The measure is to know no mea- 
sure. It is easy enough to distinguish the hearty soul^ mind^ 
strength and understanding : but there is no foundation for such 
anxious minuteness of distinction ; the accumulation is only for 
the greater emphasis." 



A DISCOURSE ON MATTHEW, XXII. 235 



soul^ and all the powers of it, unite and combine 
themselves in their most intense and highest 
strength to the love of God, and that all the work- 
ino:s of the soul, and actions of the whole man be 
no other, but the acting and exercise of this love. 

He accounts nor accepts of nothing we can offer 
him, if we give not the heart with it ; and he will 
have none of that neither, unless he have it all ; 
and it is a poor all, when we have given it, for the 
great God to accept of. If one of us had the affec- 
tion of a hundred, yea, of all the men in the world, 
yet could he not love God answerably to his full 
worth and goodness. All the glorified spirits, an- 
geis, and men, that are or shall be, in their perfec- 
tions, loving him with the utmost extent of their 
souls, do not altogether make up so much love as 
he deserves; yet he is pleased to require our heart, 
and the love v^e have to bestow on him; and 
though it is infinitely due of debt, yet he will take 
it as a gift : ' My son, give me thy heart.' 

Therefore the soul that begins to offer itself to 
him, although overwhelmed with the sense of its 
own un worthiness, and the meanness of its love, 
yet may say, Lord, I am ashamed of this gift I 
bring thee; yet because thou callest for it, such as 
it is, here it is. The heart, and all the love I have, 
I offer unto thee ; and had I ten thousand times 
more, it should all be thine : as much as I can I 
love thee, and I desire to be able to love thee 
more. Although I am unworthy to be admitted to 
love, yet thou art most worthy to be loved by me, 
and besides, thou dost allow, yea, commandest me 
to love thee: my loving of thee adds nothing to 
thee, but it makes me happy ; and though it be 



236 A DISCOURSE ON MATTHEW, XXII. 



true, the love and heart I offer thee is infinitely 
too little for thee, yet there is nothing" besides thee 
enough for it." 

The Lord, or Jehovah thy God.] There lie the 
two great reasons of love, (to ayaTrrjrdv kol to Ihior,) 
amiableness and proprietorship ; Jehovah the spring 
of being and goodness, infinitely lovely. All the 
beauty and excellencies of the creatures are but a 
drop of that ocean. And thy God, to all of us the 
author of our life, and of all that we enjoy, that 
spread forth those heavens that roll about us, and 
comfort us with their light and motions and influ- 
ences ; and established this eartn mat sustains us; 
that furnisheth us with food and raiment, and in a 
word (and it is the apostles) that gives us (^wTyr 
Ka\ TTvoijp Kal Trdvra,) ' life, and breath, and all 
things;' and to the believer, his God in a nearer 
propriety, by redemption and peculiar covenant. 
But our misery is, the most of us do not study and 
consider him, what he is in himself and to us, and 
therefore do not love him, because we know him 
not. 

And thy neighbour as thyself.] If we will not 
confess nor suspect ourselves, how much we are 
wanting in the former, yet our manifest defect in 
this will discover it; therefore the apostle' speaks 
of this as all, because though inferior to the other, 
yet connected with it, and the surest sign of it; 
for these live and die together. The apostle St. 
John is express in it, and gives those hypocrites 
the lie plainly. ' If any man says he loves 
God, and hates his brother, he is a liar.' We have 



* Rom. xiii. ; and Gal. v. 



A DISCOURSE ON MATTHEW, XXII. 



237 



no real way of expressing our love to God, but in 
our converse with men, and in the works of love 
towards them. Certainly that sweet affection of 
love to God, cannot consist with malice and bit- 
terness of spirit against our brethren. No, it 
sweetens and calms' the soul, and makes it all love 
every way. 

As thyself.'] As truly both wishing, and to thy 
power procuring his good, as thy own. Consider 
how much unwilling thou art to be injured or de- 
famed, and have the same thoughts for thy bro- 
ther, be as tender for him. But how few of us 
aspire to this degree of charity ! 

Thy very enemies are not here excluded. If 
self-love be still predominant in thee instead of the 
love of God. then thou wilt make thine own interest 
the rule of thy love ; so when thou art, or con- 
ceivest thou art, wronged by any, the reason of thy 
love ceaseth ; but if thou love for God, that reason 
abides still ;^ ''God hath commanded me to love 
my enemies, and he gives me his example, he does 
good to the wicked that offend him." 

And this is indeed a trial of our love to God. 
One hath marred thee : that gives thee to think that 
thou hast no cause to love him for thyself ; be it so, 
self-love forbids thee, but the love of God com- 
mands thee to love him. God says, ''If thou 
lovest me, love him for my sake." And if thy love 
to God be sincere, thou wilt be glad of the occasion 
to give so good a testimony of it, and find a plea- 
sure in that which others account so difficult and 
painful. 

^ Amicus diligendus in Deo, et inimicus propter Deum^ 
Aug. — " Love thy friend in God, and thy foe for God." 



338 



A DISCOURSE 

ON 

HEBREWS, VIII. 10. 

For this is the covenant that I will make with the 
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord : I 
will put my laws into their mind, and write them 
in their hearts ; and I will he to them a God, and 
they shall be to me a people. 

The two great evils that perplex sensible minds, 
are the guiltiness of sin, and the power of it ; 
therefore this new covenant hath in it two promises 
opposite to these two evils, free pardon to remove 
the guilt of sin, and the subduing of its power by 
the law of God written in the heart. Of this latter 
only for the present. Having spoke somewhat of 
the sense of the law in ten commandments, and of 
the sum of it in two, this remains to be considered 
as altogether necessary for obedience, and without 
which all hearing and speaking, and all the know- 
ledge of it, will be fruitless ; though it be made 
very clear and legible without, we shall only read 
it, and not at all keep it, unless it be likewise 
written within. 

Observe, I. The agreement of the law with the 
gospel. The gospel bears the complete fulfilling 
of the law, and satisfying its highest exactness in 
our surety Jesus Christ, so that way nothing is 



A mSCOLllSE ON HEBP.EWS. VIII. 10. 239 



abated ; but, besides in reference to us ourselves, 
though it take off the rigour of it from us, because 
answered by another for us, yet it doth not abolish 
the rule of the law, but establisheth it. It is so far 
from tearino^ or blotting out the outward copies of 
it. that it writes it anew^ where it was not before, 
even within, sets it upon the heart in sure and deep 
characters. We see this kind of writing of the law 
is a promise for the days of the gospel, cited out of 
the prophet Jeremy, chap. xxxi. 33. 

This is indeed no such writing of the law in us, 
or keeping of it by us, as will hold good for our 
justification in the sight of God ; therefore that other 
promise runs combined with it, the free forgive- 
ness of iniquity, But again, there is no such for- 
giveness as sets a man free to licentiousness and 
contempt of God s law, but, on the contrary, binds 
him more strongly to obedience ; therefore to that 
sweet promise of the pardon of sin, is inseparably 
joined this other, of inward writing of the law. The 
heart is not washed from the guiltiness of sin in the 
blood of Christ, that it mav wallow and defile itself 
agam in the same puddle ; but it is therefore 
washed that the tables or leaves of it may be clean 
for receiving the pure characters of that law of God 
which is to be written on it. 

Concerning this writing there are three things 
you may mark. 1. What it is. 2. What its ne- 
cessity. 3. Who is its writer. 

1. What it is The writing of the law in the 
heart, is briefly no other but the renewing and 
sanctifying of the heart by the infusion of grace 
which is a heavenly light that gives the soul to 
know God aright; and that is added here, as the 
same with the writing of the law in the heart, and an 



240 A DISCOURSE ON HEBREWS^ VITI. 10. 



illustration of it, 'They shall all know me from the 
least of them to the greatest.' And this li^ht bringeth 
heat with it.^ That right knowledge of God being in 
the soul, begets in it love to him ; and love is the 
same with the fulfilling of the whole law. It takes 
up the whole soul: ' I will put it in their mind, and 
write it in their hearts.' If we will distinguish these, 
then it is, they shall both know it and love it. It shall 
not be written anew in their heads, and go no deeper, 
but written in their hearts; but we may well take 
both for the whole soul, for this kind of knowledge 
and love are inseparable ; and where the one is. 
the other cannot be wanting. 

So then a supernatural sanctified knowledo^e of 
God, is the law of God written in the heart. When 
it comes and entertains him as holy within it, then 
it hath not a dead letter of the law written in it, 
but vofiov ifjL-^vxor, the Law-giver himself : his name 
and will is engraven on it throughout, on every part 
of it ; all that they know of God shall not be by 
mere report, and by the voice of others, but they 
shall inwardly read and know him within them- 
selves. Which, by the by, makes not the public 
teaching and work of the ministry superfluous 
to any, even to those that know most of God, but 
signifies only this, that all they that do indeed re- 
ceive and believe the gospel, are inwardly enlight- 
ened by the Spirit of God to understand the things 
of God, and have not their knowledge on bare trust 
of others that instruct them, without any particu- 
lar persuasion and light within ; but what they 
hear of spiritual things, they shall understand and 
know after a spiritual manner. And the universal 



' Lux est vehiculum caloris. 



A DISCOURSE ON HEBREWS, VITI. 10. 241 



lity of the promise signifies, that this kind of know- 
ledge should be more frequently and more largely 
bestowed in the days of the gospel, than it was be- 
fore. 

2. The necessity of writing the law on the heart, 
arising from the corruption of human nature. Al- 
though there be in the natural conscience of man some 
dim character of the law, convincing him of grosser 
wickednesses, and leaving him inexcusable, 
which the apostle speaks; ^ yet he is so far natu- 
rally from the right knowledge of God, and the 
love of his whole law, that, instead of that know- 
ledge, his mind is full of darkness;^ and, contrary to 
that love, his heart is possessed with a natural en- 
mity and antipathy against the law of God.^ There 
is a law within him directly opposite, which the 
apostle calls the Maw of sin.'^ Sin ruling and 
commanding the heart and whole man, making 
laws at its pleasure,^ and obtaining full obedience. 
Therefore of necessity, before a man can be brought 
to obey the holy law of God, the inward frame of 
his heart must be changed, the corrupt law of sin 
must be abrogated,^ and the soul renounce obedience 
to it, and give itself up wholly {eig tvttov) to receive 
the stamp and impression of the law of God ; and 
then, having it written within upon his heart, his 
actions will bear the resemblance, and be conform 
unto it. 

In this promise that God makes to his people, 
he hath regard to the nature of the obedience 
which he requires. Because he will have it sincere 

^ Rom. ii. 15. 2 j^p^. iy. jg. 

3 Rom. viii. 7- ^ Ibid. vii. 23. 

* Tolerabis iniquas interiias leges. Claudian.— " Thou wilt 
submit to the severest tyranny within.'' ^ Rom. vi. 

R 



242 A DISCOURSE ON HEBREWS, VITI. 10. 



and cordial, therefore be puts a living principle 
of it within, writes his law in the heart, and then 
it is in the words and actions derived from thence, 
and is more in the heart than in them: the first 
copy is in the heart, and all the other powers and 
parts of a man follow that ; and so by that means, 
as it is sincere, so it is universal. The heart is 
that which commands all the rest ; and m the vital 
spirits flow from it to the whole body, thus the 
law of God, being written in it, is diffused through 
the whole man : it might be in the memory or in 
the tongue, and not in the rest ; but put it in the 
heart, and then it is undoubtedly in all. 

Being written in the heart, makes the obedience 
likewise universal in the object (as they speak) to 
the whole law of God. When it is written only 
without a man, he may read one part and pass over 
another, may possibly choose to conform to some 
part of the law, and leave the rest ; but when the 
full copy of it is written in his heart, then it is all 
one law : and as in itself it is inseparable, as St. 
James teacheth us,' so it is likewise in his esteem 
and affection and endeavour of obedience ; he hath 
regard unto all the commandments as one, because 
of his love to the law of God, he hates not only 
some, but every false way, as David speaks. He 
that looks on the law without him, will possibly 
forbear to break it while others look upon him, his 
obedience lies much on the beholder's eye ; but he 
that hath the law written within, cannot choose but 
regard it as much in secret as in public. Although 
his sin might be hid from the knowledge and cen- 
sure of men, yet still it were violence done to that 
pure law that is within his breast, and therefore he 
hates it alike, as if it were public. This is the con- 
* James_, ii. 10, 



A DISCOURSE ON HEBREWS, VIII. 10. 243 

stant enemy of all sin, this law within him : ' I have 
hid thy law in my heart/ says David, ' that I might 
not sin against thee.'' It makes a man abate no- 
thing of his course of obedience and holiness be- 
cause unseen, but like the sun that keeps on its 
motion when it is clouded from our eyes, as well 
as when we see it. 

In a word, this writing of the law in the heart 
makes obedience a natural motion, I mean by a 
new nature : it springs not from outward con- 
straints and respects, but from an inward principle, 
and therefore not only is it universal and constant, 
but cheerful and easy. The law only written in 
tables of stone is hard and grievous ; but make 
once the heart the table of it, and then there is no- 
thing more pleasing. This law of God makes ser- 
vice delightful, even the painfulest of it.^ The 
sun that moves with such wonderful swiftness, that 
to the ignorant it would seem incredible to hear 
how many thousands of miles it goes each hour; 
yet because it is naturally fitted for that course, it 
comes, as the Psalmist speaks, ' like a bridegroom 
forth of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man 
to run a race.'^' If the natural man be convinced of 
the goodness and equity of the l^w of God, yet be- 
cause it is not written within, but only commands 
without, it is a violent motion to him to obey it, 
and therefore he finds it a painful yoke. But hear 
David, in whose heart it was, speak of it, how often 
doth he call it his delight and his joy 1 

If any profane persons object to a godly man his 
exact life, that it is too precise, as if he writ each 
action before he do it ; he may answer, as Demos 

> Psalm cxix. 11. ' Ibid. xl. 8. ^ x>,id. xiXo 5. 

R 2 



244 A DISCOURSE ON HEBREWS, VIII. 10. 

thenes to him that objected he wrote his orations 
before he spake them, that he was not at all 
ashamed of that, although they were not only 
written, bat engraven beforehand. Certainly the 
godly man lives by this law that is written and 
engraven on his heart, and needs not be ashamed 
of it. 

It is true, the renewed man, even he that hath 
this law deepest written in his heart, yet while he 
lives here, is still molested with that inbred Anti- 
nomian, that law of sin that yet dwells in his flesh : 
though the force and power of it is broken, and its 
laws repealed in his conversion, and this new 
pure law placed in its stead, yet, because that part 
which is flesh in him still entertains and harbours 
it, there it creates and breeds a Christian daily 
vexation. Because sin hath lost dominion, it is still 
practising rebellion against that spiritual kingdom 
and law that is established in the regenerate mind : 
as a man that hath once been in possession of rule, 
though usurped, yet being subdued, he is still 
working in that kingdom to turbulent practices. 
But though by this (as the apostle was') every 
godly man is often driven to sad perplexities and 
complaints, yet in this is his comfort, that law of 
his God written there, hath his heart and affection ; 
sin is dethroned and thrust out of his heart, and 
hath only an usurped abode within him, against his 
will. He sides with the law of God, and fights 
with all his power for it against the other ; thaw 
holy law is his delight, and this law of sin his 
greatest grief. 

3. / will write. 1 The Lord promises himself to 



* Rom, vli. 4. 



A DISCOURSE ON HEBREWS, VIII. 10. 245 



do this, and it is indeed bis prerog-ative ; he wrote 
it at first on tables of stone, and this spiritual en- 
graving it on the heart is much more his peculiar. 
Other men might afterwards engrave it on stone, 
but no man can at all write it on the heart, not 
upon his own, much less upon another's. Upon 
his own he cannot, for it is naturally taken up and 
possessed with that contrary law of sin, (as we said 
before,) and is willingly subject to it, loves that law, 
and therefore in that posture it neither can nor will 
work this change upon itself, to dispossess that law 
which it loves, and bring in that which it hates. 
No man can write this law on the heart of another, 
for it is inaccessible, his hand cannot reach it, he 
cannot come at it ; how then should he write any 
thing on it ? Men in the ministry of the word can 
but stand and call without ; they cannot speak to 
that within, far less write any thing within. Though 
they speak never so excellently and spiritually, and 
express no other but what is written on their own 
hearts, and certainly that is the most powerful way 
of speaking, and the likeliest for making impres- 
sion on the heart of another ; yet unless the hand 
of God's own Spirit carry it into the hearer's heart, 
and set on the stamp of it there, it will perish as a 
sound in the air, and effect nothing. ''The sound 
of our words strikes the ear; but only the Divine 
Sovereign touches the heart. Salvation is not to 
be learned by mere human teaching. We may 
warn and entreat with the strongest effort of our 
our ^ oice; but if the heavenly Teacher be not 
within the heart, vain is all our noise.'' ^ Let this 

' Sonus verborum nostrorum aures percutit, Magister intus. 
Nolite putare quenquam hominem aliquid discere ab alio 



246 A DISCOURSE ON HEBREWS, VIH. 10. 

ever be aclcnowledg-ed to his g"lory ; the voice of 
men may beat the ear, but only he thaf made the 
heart can work upon it, and change and mould it 
as it pleaseth him. This is his own promise, and 
he alone makes it good. He writes his law on the 
hearts of his children, and by this work of his grace 
prepares them for glory. They that have this law 
written in their hearts, their names are certainly 
written in the Book of Life. 

homine. Admonere possumus per strepitum vocis nostras ; si 
non est intus qui doceat, inanis strepitus est noster. — Aug. in 
1 Job. Tractat, 3. 



1 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES 



PSALM XXXIX. 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES. 



LECTURE I. 

Verse 1. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that 
I sin not with my tongue : I ivill keep my mouth 
with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. 

Certainly it is an high dignity that is conferred 
upon man, that he may as freely and frequently as 
he will converse with him that made him, the great 
King of heaven and earth. It is indeed a wonder 
that God should honour poor creatures so much ; 
but it is no less strange that men having so great 
privileges, the most part of them do use them so 
little. Seldom do we come to him in times of ease. 
And when we are spurred to it by afflictions and 
pains, commonly we try all other means rather 
than this, that is the alone true and unfailing com- 
fort. But such as have learned this way of laying 
their pained head and heart in his bosom, they 
are truly happy, though in the world's language 
they be never so miserable. 

This is the recourse of this holy man in the time 
of his affliction, whatever it was, — prayer and tears, 
bemoaning himself before his God and Father, and 
that the more fervently in that he finds his speak- 



250 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



ing to men so unprofitable ; and therefore he re- 
frains from it. 

The Psalm consists of two parts, his silence to 
men, and his speech to God ; and both of them are 
set with such sweet notes of music, though they be 
sad, that they deserve well to be committed to the 
chief musician." 

I said, I luill take heed to my ways.'] It was to 
himself that he said it ; and it is impossible for any 
other to prove a good or a wise man, without much 
of this kind of speech to himself. It is one of the 
most excellent and distinguishing faculties of a 
reasonable creature, much beyond vocal speech, for 
in that some birds may imitate us ; but neither 
bird nor beast have any thing of this kind of lan- 
guage, of reflecting or discoursing with itself. It is 
a wonderful brutality in the greatest part of men, 
who are so little conversant in this kind of speech, 
being framed and disposed for it, and which is not 
only of itself excellent, but of continual use and 
advantage : but it is a common evil among men, 
to go abroad, and out of themselves, which is a 
madness and a true distraction. It is true a man 
hath need of a well set mind, when he speaks to 
himself ; for otherwise he may be worse company to 
himself, than if he were with others; but he ought 
to endeavour to have a better with him, to call in 
God to his heart to dwell with him. If thus we 
did, we should find how sweet this were to speak to 
ourselves, by now and then intermixing our speech 
with discourses unto God. For want of this the 
most part not only loose their time in vanity, in 
their converse abroad with others, but do carry in 
heaps of that vanity to the stock which is in their 
own hearts, and do converse with that in secret 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



251 



which is the greatest and the deepest folly in the 
world. 

Other solitary employments, as reading the dis- 
putes and controversies that are among men, are 
things not unuseful ; yet all turns to waste, if we 
read not our own heart, and study that : this is the 
study of every holy man, and between this and the 
consideration of God, he spends his hours and en- 
deavours. Some have recommended the reading 
of men more than books : but what is in the one 
or both of them, or all the world beside, without 
this ? A man shall find himself out of his proper 
business, if he acquaint not himself with this, to 
speak much with God, and with himself, concern- 
ing the ordering of his own ways. 

It is true, it is necessary for some men, in some 
particular charges and stations, to regard the ways 
of others; and besides, something also there may be 
of a wise observing others to improve the good and 
evil we see in them, to our own advantage, and 
bettering our own ways, looking on them, to make 
the repercussion the stronger on ourselves; but ex- 
cept it be out of charity and wisdom, it flows either 
from uncharitable malice, or else a curious and 
vain spirit, to look much and narrowly into the 
ways of others, and to know the manner of living 
of persons about us, and so to know every thing 
but ourselves, like travellers that are well seen in 
foreign and remote parts, but strangers in the af- 
fairs of their own country and home. The check 
that Christ gave to Peter is due to such, ' What is 
that to thee, follow thou me.'^ Look thou to thine 
own feet, that they be set in the right way. It is 



* John, xxi. 22. 



252 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



a strange thing that men should lay out their dili- 
gence abroad to their loss, when their pains might 
be bestowed to their advantage nearer at hand, at 
home within themselves. 

This that the Psalmist speaks here of, ' taking 
heed to his ways/ as it imports his present dili!2:eTice, 
so also it hath in it a reflexion on his ways past, 
and these two do mutually assist one another. 
He shall never regulate his ways before him, that 
has not wisely considered his ways past ; for there 
is wisdom gathered from the observation of what is 
gone, to the choosing where to walk in time to 
come, to see where he is weakest, and lies exposed 
to the greatest hazard, and there to guard. Thus 
David expresses it in another Psalm, ' I thought 
on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimo- 
nies.'* And this should be done not only in the 
great change of one's first conversion from sin, but 
this double observance still continued every day; 
looking to his rule, and laying that rule to his way, 
and observing where the balk and nonconformity 
to the rule is, and renewing his repentance for that, 
and amending it the next day, that still the present 
day may be the better for yesterday's error. 

And surely there is much need of this, if we con- 
sider how we are encompassed about with hazards 
and snares, and the variety of temptations, and how 
little we have either of strength to overcome, or 
wisdom to avoid them, especially they being se- 
cretly set and unseen (which makes them the more 
dangerous) every where in the way in which we 
must walk, and even in those ways where we least 
think. Every where does the enemy of our souls 



* Psalm, cxix. 59. 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



253 



lay traps and snares for us; in our table, in our bed, 
in our company, and alone. If the heart be earthly 
and carnal, there is the snare of riches and gains, 
or pleasures present to think upon ; and if they de- 
light in spiritual things, that walk is not exempted 
neither; there are snares of doubtings, presump- 
tion and pride. And in converse of one Christian 
with another, where spiritual affection hath been 
stirred, it turns often to carnal passions ; as the 
apostle says of the Galatians, they ' begin in the 
spirit,' and ' end in the flesh.' ^ 

This observing and watching, as it is needful, so 
it is a very delightful thing, though it will be hard 
and painful to the unexperienced, to have a man's 
actions and words continually curbed, so that he 
cannot speak or do what he would. These are fet- 
ters and bonds ; yet to these that know it, it is a 
pleasure to gain experience, and to be more skilled 
in preventing the surprises of our enemies, and 
upon that to have something added to our own 
art, and to be more able to resist upon new oc- 
casions, and to find ourselves every day outstrip- 
ping ourselves. That is the sweetest life in the 
world, the soul to be dressing itself for the espou- 
sals of the great King, putting on more of the 
ornaments and beauties of holiness ; that is our 
glory, ' to be made conformable to the image of 
God and of Jesus Christ. If an image had sense, 
it would desire nothing so much as to look on the 
original whence it received its name, and to become 
more and more like it ; so it is the pleasure of re- 
newed souls to be looking on him, and so growing 
daily more like him, whose living image they are, 

» Gal. iii. 3. 



254 EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



and to be fitting themselves for that day of glory, 
wherein they shall be like him in the perfection 
they are capable of And this makes death more 
pleasant than life to the believer: that which seems 
so bitter to the most of men, is sweetened to them 
most wonderfully. The continual observance of a 
man's ways, keeping a watch continually over 
them, this casts a light upon the dark passage ot 
death, which is at the end of that walk, and conveys 
him through to the fulness of life : so that the man 
who observes himself and his ways through his life, 
hath little to do in examining them when he comes 
to die. That is a piece of strange folly that we de- 
fer the whole, or a great part of our day*s work to 
the twilight of the evening, and are so cruel to our- 
selves, as to keep the great load of our life for a 
few hours or days, and for a pained sickly body. 
He who makes it his daily work to observe his 
ways, is not astonished when that day cornes, 
which long before was familiar to him every day. 

That I sin not with my tongue.'] It is the wise 
mans advice, *^Keep thy heart with all diligence,' 
or ^ above all keeping and he gives the satisfying 
reason of it, * for out of it are the issues of life.' * 
Such as the spring is, so will the streams be ; the 
heart is the spring from whence all the natural life 
and vital spirits flow through the body, and in the 
Scripture sense, it is the spring of all our actions 
and conversation ; for it sends out emissaries 
through all, through the eye, hand, and all the 
senses and organs of the body, but through none 
more constantly and abundantly than the tongue ; 
and therefore Solomon, after these words, immedi- 



' Prov. iv. 23. 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



200 



ately adds, 'Put away from thee a froward mouth, 
and perverse lips put far from thee.' The great 
current of the heart runs in that channel; for it is 
the organ of societies, and is commonly employed 
in all the converse of men ; and we can still, when all 
the other members are useless^ use our tongues in 
regretting their unfitness for their offices : so sick 
and old pei-sons. Thus David here, as it seems un- 
der some bodily sickness, labours to refrain his 
tongue; and lest it should prove too strong for him, 
he puts a curb upon it: though it did not free him 
from inward frettings of his heart, yet he lays a re- 
straint on his tongue, to stay the progress of sin, 
that grows in vigour by going out, and produces 
and begets sin of the same kind in the hearts and 
mouths of others, when it passes from the heart to 
the tongue. The apostle James does amply and 
* excellently teach the great importance of ordering 
the tongue in all a Christian's life. But we are ever 
learning and never taught. We hear how ex\^el- 
lent a guard this is to our lives, to keep a watch 
over our tongue ; but I fear few of us gain the real 
advantage of this rule. We are far from the serious 
thoughts that a religious person had of this Scrip- 
ture, w^hen he heard it read, retired himself for 
many years to the study of this precept, and made 
very good proficiency in it. 

In all the disorders of the world the tongue hath 
a great share. To let pass those irruptions of in- 
fernal furies, blasphemies and cursing, lying and 
uncharitable speeches; how much are we to ac- 
count for unprofitable talking ? It is a lamentable 
thing, that there is nothing, for the most part, in 
common entertainments and societies of men toge- 
ther, but refuse and trash, as if their tongues were 



256 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



given them for no other end but to be their shame, 
by discovering their folly and weakness. As like- 
wise that of impatient speech in trouble and afflic- 
tion, which certainly springs from an unmortified 
spirit, that hath learned nothing of that great lesson 
of submission to the will of God. But for all the 
disorders of the tongue, the remedy must begin at 
the heart : purge the fountain, and then the streams 
will be clean ; keep thy heart, and then it will be 
easy to keep thy tongue. It is a great help in the 
quality of speech, to abate in the quantity ; not to 
speak rashly, but to ponder what we are going to 
say : ' Set a watch before the door of thy lips.' ^ He 
bids us not build it up like a stone wall, that 
nothing go in or come out ; but he speaks of a 
door, which may be sometimes open, oft-times 
shut, but withal to have a watch standing before 
it continually. A Christian must labour to have 
his speech as contracted as can be, in the things of 
this earth ; and even in divine things, our words 
should be few and wary. In speaking of the 
greatest things, it is a great point of wisdom not to 
speak much. That is David's resolution, to keep 
silence, especially before the wicked, who came to 
visit him probably when he was sick : while they 
were there, he held a watch before his lips, to speak 
nothing of God s hand on him, lest they shall have 
mistaken him. And a man may have some thoughts 
of divine things, that were very impertinent to 
speak out indifferently to all sorts, even of good 
persons. Tliis is a talkative age, and people con- 
tract a faculty to speak much in matters of religion, 
though their words, for the most part, be only the 



^ Psalm cxli. 3. 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



257 



productions of their own brain ; little of these things 
in their hearts. Surely these kind of speeches are 
as bad as any, when holy things are spoken of 
with a notional freedom, where .there is nothing 
but empty words. They who take themselves to 
solitude, choose the best and easiest part, if they 
have a warrant so to do : for this world is a 
tempestuous sea, in which there are many rocks, 
and a great difficulty it is to steer this little helm 
aright amidst them. However, the apostle James 
makes it a great character of a Christian's perfec- 
tion, 'If any man offend not in word, the same is a 
perfect man.'^ But where is that man ? Seeing 
we find men generally, and most of all ourselves, 
so far from this, it cannot choose but work this, to 
stir up ardent desires in us, to be removed to that 
blessed society, where there shall be never a word 
amiss, nor a word too much. 



LECTURE II. 

Verse 2. I ivas dumb with silence, I held my peace, 
even from good; and my sorroiv was stirred, 

3. My heart was hot withiji me ; while I ivas musing, 
the fire burned : then spake I with my tongue. 

It is a very useful and profitable thing to observe 
the motions and deportments of the spirits of wise 



* Chap, ill. 2. 



8 



258 



EXPOSITORY lectures/ 



and holy men, in all the various postures and 
conditions they are in: it is for that purpose they 
are drawn out to us in the scriptures. There are 
some graces that are more proper, and come more 
in action, in times of ease and prosperity, such as 
temperance, moderation of mind, humility and 
compassion. Others are more proper for times of 
distress, as faith, fortitude, patience and resigna- 
tion. It is very expedient, if not necessary, that 
affliction have its turns, and frequently, in the lives 
of the children of God : it is the tempest that gives 
evidence of the pilot's skill. And as the Lord de- 
lighteth in all his works, looks on the frame and 
conduct in all things with pleasure, so he is delighted 
to look on this part, on this low sea of troubles, to 
see his champions meet with hard and pressing 
trials, such as sometimes do not only make them 
feel them, but do often make the conflict dubious 
to them, that they seem to be almost foiled ; yet 
do they acquit themselves, and come off with 
honour. It is not the excellency of grace to be in- 
sensible in trouble, (as some philosophers would 
have their wise men,) but to overcome and be vic- 
torious. 

Among the rest of this holy man's troubles, this 
was one, that the wicked did reproach him : this is 
a sharp arrow that flies thick in the world. It is 
one of the sharpest stings of poverty, that as it is 
pinched with wants at home, so it is met with scorn 
abroad. It is reckoned among the sharp sufferings 
of holy men,* that they suffered bitter mockings. 
Now, men commonly return these in the same kind, 
that is, by the tongue, whereof David is here aware : 



» Heb. xi. 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



259 



he refrains himself even from good; not only from 
his just defence^ but even from good and pious 
discourses. We do so easily exceed in our words, 
that it is better sometimes to be wholly silent, than, 
to speak that which is good ; for our good borders 
so near upon evil, and so easy is the transition 
from the one to the other, that though we begin to 
speak of God and good things, with a good inten- 
tion, yet how quickly run we into another channel ! 
Passion and self having stolen in, turn us quite from 
the first design of our speech. And this chiefly in 
disputes and debates about religion, w^herein though 
we begin with zeal for God, yet oft-times, in the 
end, we testify nothing but our own passion ; and 
sometimes we do lie one against another in de- 
fence of what we call the truth. 

It cannot be denied, that to a holy heart, it is a 
great violence to be shut up altogether from the 
speech of God. It burns within, especially in the 
time of affliction, as was the case of Jeremiah : 
' Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor 
speak any more in his name. But his word was in 
my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, 
and I was weary with forbearing, and could not 
stay.' ^ So it is here with David ; therefore he 
breaks out : the fire burns upward, and he speaks to 
God. 

Let this be our way, when we cannot find ease 
among men, to seek it in God. He knows the lan- 
guage of his children, and will not mistake it, yea, 
where there maybe somewhat of weakness and dis- 
temper he will bear with it. In all your dis- 
tresses, in all your moanings, go to him, pour out 

> Jer. XX. 9. 

s 2 



260 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



your tears to him. Not only fire, but even wuier, 
where it wants a vent, will break upward. These 
tears drop not in our own lap, but they fall on his, 
•and he hath a bottle to put them in : if ye empty 
them there, they shall return in wine of strong 
consolation. 

Ver. 4. Now David's request is. Lord make me 
to kfiow mine end, and the measure of my days, ivhat 
it is ; that I may know how frail I am,] In which 
he does not desire a response from God, about the 
day of his death, but instruction concerninp^ the 
frailty and shortness of his life. But did not David 
know this ? Yes, he knew it, and yet he desires to 
know it. It is very fit we ask of God that he would 
make us to know the things that we know ; I mean, 
what we know emptily and barely, we may know 
spiritually and fruitfully, and if there be any measure 
of this knowledge, that it may increase and grow 
more. We know that we are sinners, but that 
knowledge commonly produces nothing but cold, 
dry, and senseless confusion; but the right know- 
ledge of sin would prick our hearts, and cause us 
to pour them out before the Lord. We know that 
Jesus is the Saviour of sinners ; it were fit to pray 
that we know more of him, so much of him as 
might make us shape and fashion our hearts to his 
likeness. We know we must die, and that it is no 
long course to the utmost period of life; yet our 
hearts are little instructed by this knowledge : how 
great need have we to pray this prayer with David 
here, or that with Moses, * Teach us to number our 
days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom/* 



1 Psalm xc. 12.. 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



261 



Did we indeed know and consider how quickly we 
shall pass from hence, it were not possible for us to 
cleave so fast to the things of this life, and, as 
foolish children, to wade in ditches, and fill our 
laps with mire and dirt ; to prefer base earth and 
flesh to immortality and glory. 

That I may know how frail I am.'] Most part of 
men are foolish, inconsiderate creatures, ' like unto 
the very beasts that perish ^ only they are capable 
of greater vanity and misery ; but in as irrational a 
way, they toil on and hurry themselves in a multi- 
tude of business, by multitudes of desires, fears and 
hopes, and know not whither all tends. But one well- 
advised thought of this one thing, would temper 
them in their hottest pursuits, — if they would but 
think how frail they are; how vain a passing thing, 
not only these our particular desires and projects are, 
but they themselves and their whole life. David 
prays that he may know his end, and his prayer is 
answered : ' Behold, thou hast made my days as an 
hand-breadth.'^ If we were more in requests of 
this kind, we should receive more speedy and certain 
answers. If this be our request, to know ourselves, 
our frailties and vanity, we shall know that our 
days are few and evil, both the brevity and vanity 
of them. 

Ver. 5. Thou hast measured out my days as an 
hand-breadth.'] That is one of the shortest mea- 
sures. We need not long lines to measure our lives 
by, each one carries a measure about with him, our 
own hand, that is the longest and fullest measure. 
It is not so much as a span : that might possibly 



-1 Psalm xlix- 12. 



* Verse 6. 



262 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



have been the measure of old age in the infancy 
of the world, but now it is contracted to an hand- 
breadth, and that is the longest : but how many fall 
short of that ! Many attain not to a finger-breadth : 
multitudes pass from the womb to the grave ; and 
how many end their course within the compass of 
childhood 1 

Whether we take this hand-breadth for the four- 
score years, that is ordinarily the utmost extent of 
man's life in our days, or for the four times of our 
age, into which we use to distinguish it, childhood, 
youth, manhood, and old age; there are great num- 
bers, we see, take up their lodging ere they come 
near the last of any of these ; and few attain to the 
outmost border of them. All of us are but a hand- 
breadth from death, and not so much ; for many of 
us have passed a great part of that hand-breadth 
already, and we know not how little of it is behind. 
We use commonly to divide our lives by years, 
months, weeks, and days, but it is all but one day ; 
there is the morning, noon, afternoon, and evening : 
^ Man is as the grass that springs in the morning/ ^ 
As for all the days that are past of our life, death 
hath them rather than we, and they are already in 
its possession. When we look back on them, they 
appear but as a shadow or dream ; and if they be so 
to us, how much more short are they in the sight of . 
God ! So says David here : When I look on thee 
and thy eternity, ' mine age is as nothing before 
thee.* What is our life, being compared to God, be- 
fore whom ' a thousand years are but as one day,^ 
and less ; like yesterday, it is past, and that is but a 



^ Psalm xc. 5, 



ON PSALM XXXIX, 



263 



thought ? The whole duration of the world is hut 
a point in respect of eternity; and how small a 
point is the life of man, even in comparison with 
that ! 

The brevity of our life is a very useful consider- 
ation ; from it we may learn patience under all our 
crosses and troubles; they may be shorter than 
life, but they can be no longer. There are few 
that an affliction hath lien on all the days of their 
life; but though that were the case, yet a little 
time, and how quickly is it done ! While thou art 
asleep there is a cessation of thy trouble, and when 
awake, bemoaning and weeping for it, and for sin 
that is the cause of it ; in the meantime it is slid- 
ing away. In all the bitter blasts that blow on thy 
face, thou who art a Christian indeed, mayst com- 
fort thyself, in the thought of the good lodging 
that is before thee. To others it were the great- 
est comfort, that their afflictions in this life were 
lengthened out to eternity. 

Likewise, this may teach us temperance in these 
things that are called *^ the good things of this 
world." Though a man had a lease of all these 
fine things the world can afford for his whole life, 
(which yet never any man that T know of had,) 
what is it ? A feigned dream of an hour long. 
None of these things that now it takes so much de- 
light in, will accompany the cold lump of clay to 
the grave. Within a little while, those ' that are 
married and rejoice shall be as if they rejoiced 
not,' ^ nor ever had done it ; and if they shall be so 
quickly, a wise man makes little difference in these 
things betwixt their presence and their absence. 



* 1 Cor. vii. 29. 



264 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



This thought should also teach us diligence in 
our business. We have a short day and much to 
do ; it were fit to be up early, to ' remember thy 
Creator in the days of thy youth and ye that are 
come to riper years, be advised to lay hold on 
what remains ; ye know not how little it is. 

The more you fill yourselves with the things of 
this life, the less desires you will have after ' those 
rivers of pleasures that are at Gods right hand.' 
These shall never run dry, but all those other things 
shall be dried up within a little space ; at the fur- 
thest, when old age and death come, if not sooner. 
And on the other side, the more we deny ourselves 
the sensual enjoyments of a present world, we grow 
the liker to that divine estate, and are made the 
surer of it; and I am sure all will grant that this 
is a very gainful exchange. 

Verily every man at his best estate is altogether 
vani/y.] It is no wonder that the generality of 
men are strangers to God, for they are strangers 
to themselves. The cure of both these evils is 
from the same hand. He alone can teach us what 
he is, and what we are ourselves. All know and 
see that their life is short, and themselves vanity. 
But this holy man thought it needful to ask the 
true notion of it from above, and he receives the 
measure of his life, ' even an band-breadth.' There 
is a common imposture among people to read their 
fortunes by their hands ; but this is true palmis- 
try indeed, to read the shortness of our life upon 
the palms of our hands. 

Our days are not only few, but we ourselves are 
vanity. Every man, even a godly man, as he is a 
partaker of this life, is not exempted from vanity; 
nay, he knows it better than any other : but this 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



265 



thought comforts him, that he hath begun that life 
that is above and beyond all vanity. The words 
are weighty and full. It is not a problem, or a 
doubtful thing ; but surely every man is vanity. I 
may call it a definition, and so it is proved, Psalm 
cxliv. 3, 4. ' What is man ? He is like to vanity, 
and his days are as a shadow that passes away.* 
His days do not only soon decline and pass away 
as a shadow, but also they are like vanity. While 
he appears to be something, he is nothing but the 
figure and picture of vanity. He is like it; not the 
copy of it, but rather the original and idea of it, 
for he hath derived vanity to the whole creation : he 
hath ' subjected the creatures' to it, and hath 
thrown such a load upon them, that they groan 
under it ; and so vanity agrees to him properly, 
constantly, and universally. Every man, and that 
at his best estate, as the word is, in his settled and 
fixed state, set him as sure and high as you will, 
yet he is not above that; he carries it about with 
him as he does his nature. 

This is a very profitable truth to think on ; 
though some kind of hearers, even of the better 
sort, would judge it more profitable to hear of cases 
of conscience. But this is a great case of conscience, 
to consider it well, and carry the impression of it 
home with you on your hearts — the extreme va- 
nity of ourselves, that we are nothing but vanity. 
And the note that is added here, ' Selah,' if it im- 
port any thing to the sense and confirmation of 
what it is added to, it agrees well to this; but if it 
be only a musical note to direct, as some think, the 
elevation, or, according to others, the falling of the 
voice, it fits the sense very well; for you have 



266 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



man here lifted up and cast down again; lifted ui>— 
man at his best estate, and from that thrown down 
to nothing- — even in that estate ' he is altogether 
vanity/ What is that ? It is, as the word signifies, 
'an earthly vapour;' and it is generally used to signify 
things of the least and meanest use, the most empty 
airy things. So idols are oft called hy that name ; 
they are nothing in respect of what is attributed to 
them by the children of men : and such a thing is 
man, he seems to be something, and is indeed no- 
thing, as it is Psalm Ixii. 9. ' Men of low degree are 
vanity possibly that may be granted for a truth, 
and they pass for such ; but he adds, ' men of 
high degree are a lie :' they promise something, 
and look bigger like, but they are nothing more 
except this, ' a lie,' and the greater they are, the 
louder the lie. 

This it is then that we should acquaint ourselves 
with ; that man, in this present life, in all the high 
advantages of it, is an empty, feeble, fading thing. 
If we look to the frame of man's body, what is he 
but a muddy wall, ' a house of clay, whose found- 
ation is in the dust ?' If we look within, there is 
nothing there but a sink and heap of filth. The 
body of man is not only subject to fevers, hectics, 
&c. that make the wall to moulder down, but, take 
him in his health and strength, what is he but a bag 
of rottenness? and why should he take delight in 
his beauty, which is but the appearance of a thing, 
which a fit of sickness will so easily deface, or the 
running of a few years spoil the* fashion of? A 
great heat or cold puts that frame into disorder ; 
a few days' sickness lays him in the dust, or much 
blood gathered w^ithin gathers fevers and pleuri- 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



267 



sies, and so destroys that life it should maintain ; 
or a fly or crumb of bread may stop his breath, 
and so end his days. 

If we consider men in societies, in cities and 
towns, often hath the overflowing scourge of famine 
and pestilence laid them waste; and from those they 
cannot secure themselves in the greatest plenty and 
health, but they come in a sadden and unlocked for. 
If we could see all the parts and persons in a great 
city at once, how many woes and miseries should 
we behold there! How many either want bread, 
or scarcely have it by hard labour ! Then, to hear 
the groans of dying persons, and the sighs and 
weepings of those about them ! How many of these 
things are within the walls of great cities at all 
times ! Great palaces cannot hold out death, but it 
breaks through and enters there ; and thither oft- 
times the most painful and shameful diseases that 
are incident to the sons of men, resort. Death by 
vermin hath seized on some of the greatest kings 
that have ever been in the world. If we look on 
generals who have commanded the greatest armies, 
they carry about with them poor frail bodies, as well 
as others : they may be killed by one small wound, 
as well as the meanest soldier ; and a few days' in- 
temperance hath taken some of the most gallant and 
courageous of them away, in the midst of their suc- 
cess. And sure I am, he who believes and considers 
the life to come, and looks on this and sees what it 
is, makes little account of these things that have so 
big a sound in the world. The revolutions of states, 
crowns, kingdoms, cities, towns, how poor, incon- 
siderable things are they, being compared with 
eternity! and he that looks not on them as sucb 
is a fool. 



268 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



LECTURE III. 

Verse 6. Surely every manwalketh in a vain shoia : 
surely they are disquieted in vain : he heapeth 
up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather 
them. 

There is a part of our liand-breadth past since we 
last left this place ; and, as we are saying this, we 
are wearing- out some portion of the rest of it. It 
were well, if we considered this so as to make a 
better improvement of what remains, than, I be- 
lieve, we shall find, upon examining of our ways, 
we have made of what is past. Let us see if we can 
gain the space of an hour, that we may be excited 
to a better management of the latter part of our 
time than we have made of the former. 

We are all, I think, convinced of the vanity of 
man, as to his outside, that he is a feeble, weak, 
poor creature; but we may have hope of somewhat 
better, in that which is the man indeed, — his mind 
and intellectual part. It is true, that that was ori- 
ginally excellent, and that there is somewhat of a 
radical excellency still in the soul of man; yet it is 
so desperately degenerate, that naturally man, even 
in that consideration, ' is altogether vanity,' in all 
the pieces of him : his mind is but a heap of vanity, 
nothing there but ignorance, folly, and disorder; 
and if we think not so, we are the more foolish and 
ignorant. That which passes with great pomp, 
under the title of learning and science, it is com- 
monly nothing else but a rhapsody of words and 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



269 



empty terms, which have nothing in them to make 
known the internal nature of thinj^^s. 

But even those who have the improvement of 
learning and education, who understand the model 
and government of affairs, that see their delects, 
and entertain themselves with various shapes of 
amending and reforming them, even in those we 
shall find nothing but a sadder and more serious 
vanity. It is a tormenting and vexing thing for 
men to promise to themselves great reformations 
and bettering of things. That thought usually de- 
ludes the wisest of men : they must at length come 
to that of Solomon, after much labour to little pur- 
pose, that * crooked things cannot be made straight;'^ 
yea, many things grow worse, by labouring to rec- 
tify them ; therefore he adds, ' he that increaseth 
knowledge increaseth sorrow.' 

As for knowledge in religion, we see the greatest 
part of the world lying in gross darkness; and even 
amongst Christians, how much ignorance of these 
thing-s ! Which appears in this, that there are such 
swarms and productions of debates and contentions, 
that they are grown past number. And each party 
is confident that truth is on his side; and ordinarily 
the most ignorant and erroneous, the most confi- 
dent and most imperious in their determinations. 
Surely it were a great part of our wisdom to free 
our spirits from these empty fruitless janglings that 
abound in the Christian world. 

It were an endless toil to go through all degrees, 
professions, and employments of men in the world : 
we may go through nations, countries, crafts, 
schools, colleges, courts, camps, councils of state. 



» Eccles. i. 16. 



270 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



and parliaments, and find nothing in all these, but 
still more of this trouble and vexation in a finer 
dress and fashion, ' altogether vanity/ 

Every man walks in a vain show,'] His walk is 
nothing but a going on in continual vanity, adding 
a new stock of vanity of his own coining to what he 
has already within, and vexation of spirit woven 
all along with it. He walks in an image, as the 
word is; converses with things of no reality, and 
which have no solidity in them, and he himself as 
little. He himself is a walking image, in the midst* 
of these images. They who are taken with the con- 
ceit of images and pictures, that is an emblem of 
their own life, and of all other men^s also. Every 
man s fancy is to himself a gallery of pictures ; 
and there he walks up and down, and considers 
not how vain these are, and how vain a thing he 
himself is. 

My brethren, they are happy persons, (but few 
are they in number,) that are truly weaned from all 
those images and fancies the world dotes so much 
upon. If many of the children of men would turn 
their own thoughts backwards in the evening but 
of one day, what would they find for the most part, 
but that they have been walking among these pic- 
tures, and passing from one vanity to another, and 
back again, to and fro, to as little purpose as the 
running up and down of children at their play ? 
He who runs after honour, pleasure, popular es- 
teem — what do you think ? Does not that man walk 
in an image, pursuing after that that hath no other 
being but what the opinion and fancy of men give 
to it; especially the last, which is a thing so fluc- 
tuating, uncertain and inconstant, that while he 
hath it he hath nothing ? The other image that 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



271 



man follows and worships is that in the text, that 
wretched madness of ' heaping up riches/ This is 
the great foolishness and disease, especially of old 
age, that the less way a man has to go, he makes 
the greater provision for it : when the hands are 
stiff, and fit for no other labour, they are fitted and 
composed for scraping together. But for what end 
dost thou take all this pains ? If for thyself, a little 
sober care will do thy turn, if thy desires be sober; 
and if not so, thy diligence were better bestowed 
in impairing and diminishing of these; and that is 
the easier way a great deal. And if it be for others, 
why dost thou take a certain unease to thyself for 
the uncertain ease of others ? And who these are, 
thou dost not know ; may be, such as thou never 
intended them for. It were good we used more 
easy and undistracting diligence, for increasing of 
these treasures which we cannot deny are far bet- 
ter, and whosoever hath them, may abound therein, 
with increase : he knows well for whom he gathers 
them, he himself shall possess them through all 
eternity. 

If there were not a hope beyond this life, there 
were reason for that passionate word in Psalm 
Ixxxix. 47, ' Why has thou made all men in vain 
To what purpose were it for poor wretched man, 
to have been all his days tossed upon the waves of 
vanity, and then to lie down in the grave and be 
no more heard of? But it is not so ; he is made ca- 
pable of a noble and blessed life beyond this; and 
our forgetfulness of this is the cause of all our 
misery and vanity here. 

It is a great folly to complain of the shortness of 
our life, and yet to lavish it out so prodigally on 
trifles and shadows. If it were well managed, it 



272 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



would be sufficient for all we have to do. The only 
way to live indeed is to be doing service to God, 
and tjood to men : this is to live much in a little 
time. But when we play the fool, in mispending 
our time, it may be indeed a sad thought to us 
when we find it gone, and we are benighted in the 
dark so far from our home. But those that have 
their souls untied from this world and knit to God, 
they need not complain of the shortness of it, hav- 
ing laid hold on eternal life. For this life is flying 
away, there is no laying hold on it ; it is no matter 
how soon it go away, the sooner the better, for to 
such persons it seems rather to go too slow. 



LECTURE IV. 

Verse 7 And now, Lord, what wait I for P my 
hope is in thee. 

To entertain the minds of men with thoughts of 
their own vanity, and discourses of their own 
misery, seems to be sad and unpleasant ; but cer- 
tainly it is not unprofitable, unless it be our own 
choice to make it so; and that were the greatest 
vanity and misery of all. Indeed, if there were no 
help for this sore evil, then the common shift were 
not to be blamed ; yea, it were to be chosen as the 
only help in such a desperate case, not to think on 
it, to forget our misery, and to divert our thoughts 
from it, by all possible means, rather than to in- 
crease it, and tormerU ourselves, by insi^^ting and 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



273 



poring on it ; and in that case shallow minds would 
have the advantage, that could not converse with 
these sad thoughts; for to 'increase this knowledge' 
were but * to increase sorrow/ But far be it from 
us thus to determine : there is a hope which is a 
help to tliis evil, and this is it that i\u< li^ly man 
fixes on, jind notv, Lord, what wait I for? my 
hope is in thee ; otherwise it were strange that the 
most excellent piece of the visible creation should 
be made subject to the most incurable unhappiness, 
to feel misery which he cannot shun, and to be tor- 
mented with desires that cannot be satisfied. But 
there is some better expectation for the souls of 
men, and it is no other but himself who made 
them. 

The wisest natural men have discoursed of man's 
vanity, and passionately bemoaned it ; but in this 
they have fallen short, how to remedy it. They 
have aimed at it and come near it, but were not 
able to work it : they still laboured to be satisfied 
in themselves ; they speak somewhat of reason, but 
that will not do it, for man being fallen under the 
curse of God, there is nothing but darkness and 
folly in himself. The only way to blessedness is 
by going out of ourselves unto God. 

All our discourses of our own vanity will but 
further disquiet us, if they do not terminate here ; 
if they do not fix on his eternal happiness, goodness, 
and verity. 

I am persuaded if many would ask this question 
of themselves, What wait I for ? they would 
puzzle themselves, and not find an answer. There 
are a great many things that men desire and are 
gaping after, but few after one thing chiefly and 
stayedly ; they float up and down, and are carried 

T 



274 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES. 



about without any certain motion, but by fancy, 
and by guess ; and no wind can be fair for such 
persons that aim at no certain haven. 

If we put this question to ourselves. What would 
I have ? it were easy for many to answer, I would 
have an easy, quiet, peaceable life in this world : 
so would an ox or a horse And is that all ? May 
be, you would have a greater height of pleasure 
and honour ; but think on this one thing, that there 
is this one crack and vanity that spoils all these 
things, that they will not bear you up when you 
lean to them in times of distress; and besides, when 
you have them they may be pulled from you, and 
if not, you must be plucked away from them within 
a little while. There is much seeming content in the 
pursuit of these things, but they are lost with 
greater discontent. It is God's goodness to men, 
to blast all things in the world to them, and to 
break their fairest hopes, that they may be con- 
strained to look about to himself ; he beats them 
from all shores, that he may * bring them to the 
rock that is higher than they.'^ 

O ! that God would once touch some of your 
hearts, that are under the ' chains of darkness,' that 
ye might once bethink where to rest your head in 
the midst of all our confusions; and here is the 
resting-place, — hope in God. JVow, Lord what 
wait I for? my hope is in thee. Blessed soul that 
can say, Lord, thou seest I desire nothing but 
thyself ; (as Peter said, ^Lord, thou knowest I love 
thee ;') all the corners of my heart stand open in 
thy sight; thou seest if there be any other desire 
or expectation but to please thee, and if there be 



» Psalm Ixi. 2. 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



275 



any such thing in me, (for I see it not,) I pray thee, 
discover it to me, and through thy grace it shall 
lodge no longer. My heart is thine alone, it is 
consecrated to thee, and if anything would profane 
thy temple, if it will not go forth hy fair warning, 
let it be scourged out by thy rod, yea, any rod 
whatsoever it pleaseth thee to choose," 

My hope is in Thee.] This holy man, seeing the 
vanity of all other expectations and pursuits of 
men, at length he runs to this, ^nd noiv, Lord, 
what wait I for P my hope is in thee. He finds no- 
thing but moving sand every where else ; but he 
finds this eternal rock to be a strong foundation, as 
the Hebrew word, by which he is styled, doth sig- 
nify. It is true, the union of the heart with God, 
is made up by faith and love ; but yet both these in 
this our present condition of our absence and dis- 
tance from God, do act themselves much by the 
third grace; which is joined with them, and that is 
hope. For faith is conversant about 'things that 
are not seen,' and in a great part that are not yet, 
but are to come; and the spirit of faith, choosing 
things that are to come, is called hope. It is true 
they are not so wholly deferred as that they possess 
nothing; but yet the utmost they possess is but a 
pledge and earnest-penny, a small thing in respect of 
that eternal inheritance they look for. What they 
have here is of the same kind with what they expect, 
but it is but a little portion of it, the smiles and 
glances of their Father's face, a foretaste of heaven, 
which their souls are refreshed with ; but these are 
but rare and for a short time. 

Hope is the great stock of believers ; it is that 
which upholds them under all the faintings and 
sorrows of their mind in this life, and in their going 

T 2 



276 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



' throug-li the valley and shadow of death.' It is 
' the helmet of their salvation/ which, while they are 
looking over to eternity, beyond this present time, 
covers and keeps their head safe amidst all the 
darts that fly round about them. In the present 
discomfort and darkness of mind, and the saddest 
hours they meet with in this life, hope is that which 
keeps up the soul, and is that which David cheered 
up his soul with. ^ Why art thou cast down, O my 
soul ? and why art thou disquieted in me ? Hope 
thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help 
of his countenance.'^ And even in this point the 
' children of the world' have no great advantage ot 
the ' children of God,' as to the things of this life ; 
for much of their satisfaction, such as it is, does 
hang for the most part on their hope : the happiest 
and richest of them do still piece it out with some 
further expectation, something they look for beyond 
what they have, and the expectation of that pleases 
them more than all their present possessions. But 
this great disadvantage they have, all their hopes 
are but heaps of delusions and lies; and either they 
die and obtain them not, or if they obtain them, 
yet they obtain them not, they are so far short of 
what they fancied and imagined of them before- 
hand ; but the hope of the children of God, as it is 
without fail sure, so it is inconceivably full and satis- 
fying, far beyond what the largest apprehension of 
any man is able to reach. ' Hope in God,' what 
is wanting there ? 

This hope lodges only in the pure heart; it is a 
precious liquor that can only be kept in a clean 
vessel, and that which is not so, cannot receive it, 

' Psalm xlii. 6. 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



277 



but what it seems to receive, it corrupts and de- 
stroys. It is a confidence arising" from peace, 
ag-reement, and friendship, which cannot be betwixt 
the God of purity, and those who allow unholiness 
in themselves. It is a strange impudence for men 
to talk of their " trust and hope in God," who are 
in perfiect hostility against him. Bold fellows go 
throug-h dangers here, but it will not be so here- 
:ifter : 'they turn to me the back and not the face; 
yet in their trouble, they say, arise and save us.'^ 
They do it as confidently as if they never had des- 
pised God ; but they mistake the matter, it is not 
so. ' Go and cry,' says he, ' to the gods whom ye 
have chosen.'^ When men come to die, then they 
catch hold of the mercy of God ; but from that their 
filthy hands are beat oflP, there is no help for 
them there, and so they fall down to the pit. A 
holy fear of God and a happy hope in him are 
commonly linked together. Behold the eye of the 
Lord is upon them that fear him ; upon them that 
hope in his mercy. 

And even in those who are more purified from 
sin, yet too large draughts of lawful pleasures do 
clog the spirits, and make this hope grow exceeding- 
weak. Surely the more we fill ourselves with these 
things, we leave the less appetite for the consola- 
tions of this blessed hope. They cannot know the 
excellency of this hope, who labour not to keep it 
unmixed ; it is best alone, as the richest wines and 
oils, which are the worse of mixtures. * Be sober 
and hope keep your mind sober, and your hope 
shall be pure. Any thing or person that leans on 
two supporters, whereof the one is whole and 



» Jer. ii. 27. 

^ Psalm xxxiii. 18. 



2 Judg. X. 14. 
^ 1 Pet, i. la 



278 EXP:?SlTORY LECTLRES, 

sound, and the other broken or crooked, that which 
is unsound breaks, though the other remain whole, 
and they fall ; whereas the one that was whole had 
been sufficient : thus it is, when we divide our hopes 
betwixt God and this present world, or any other 
good. Those that place their whole hopes on God, 
they gather in all their desires to him; the streams, 
of their affections are not scattered and left in the 
muddy ditches of the world ; they do not fall into 
sinking pools, but being gathered into one main 
torrent, they run on in that channel to the sea of 
his eternal goodness. 

My hope is in thee.'] We cannot choose but all of 
us must think that God is immensely good in him- 
self; but that which is nearer, whereon our hearts 
most rise, is a relative goodness, that he is good to 
us, and that he is so perfectly and completely good, 
that having made choice of him, and obtained 
union with him, we need no more. Were once the 
hearts of the children of men persuaded of this, all 
fheir deliberations were at an end ; they would not 
only choose no other, but defer no longer to fix on 
him. And what can trouble the soul that is thus 
established ? no changes or overturning of outward 
things ; though the frame of the world itself were 
shaken to pieces, yet still the bottom of this hope 
is he that * changeth not:' and whatever thy pres- 
sures be, poverty, sickness, or disquiet of mind, thou 
mayst draw abundant consolation from him in 
whom thou hast placed thy hope. There is only 
one thing that cruelly assaults it by the way, and 
that is the guilt of sin. All afflictions and troubles 
we meet with are not able to mar this hope or 
quench it; for where it is strong, it either breaks 
through them; or flies above them: they cannot 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



279 



overcome it, for there is no affliction inconsistent 
with the love of God ; yea, the sharpest afflic- 
tion rrjay sometimes have the clearest characters of 
his love upon it; but it is sin that presents him as 
an^ry to the view of the soul. When he looks 
through that cloud he seems to be an enemy, and 
when we apprehend him in that aspect, we are 
affrighted, and presently apprehend a storm ; but 
even in this case, this hope apprehends his mercy 



LECTURE V. 

Verse 8. Deliver me from all my transgressions ; 
make me not the reproach of the foolish, , 

This is, indeed, the basis and foundation of all 
our other hopes, the free pardon of our sins; but 
none must entertain these sins, if they desire to 
be pardoned. ' Repentance' and ' remission of 
sins' are still linked together in the scriptures; and 
he that would have sin pardoned, and yet live in 
it, or retain the love of it, would have God and sin 
reconciled together, and that can never be. David 
finds his sins pressing him down : he sees them as 
an army of men set in battle array about him ; and 
whither flies he for a deliverance ? even to him 
whom he had offended. 

Ver. 10, 11. Remove thy stroke away from me: I 
am consumed by the blow of thine hand. When thou 
with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou 
makest his beauty to consume away like a moth : 
surely every man is vanity, Selah,] We are natu- 



280 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



rally very partial ju clones of ourselves ; and, as if we 
were not sufficiently able by nature, we study and 
devise by art to deceive ourselves. We are ready 
to reckon any good that is in us to the full, nay, to 
multiply it beyond what it is; and yet to help this, 
we use commonly to look on those who have less 
goodness in them, who are weaker, more foolish 
and worse th?n ourselves, and so we magnify the 
sense of our own worth and goodness by that com- 
parison. And as in the goodness we have, or 
imagine we have, so likewise in the evils we suffer, 
we use to extol them very much in conceit. We 
account our lightest afflictions very great ; and to 
heighten our thoughts of them, we do readily take 
a view of those who are more at ease, and less af- 
flicted than ourselves, and by these devices w^e 
nourish in ourselves pride, by the over-weaning 
conceit of our goodness; and impatience, by the 
over-feeling sense of our evils. But if we would 
help ourselves by comparison, we should do w^ell to 
view those persons who are or have been eminent 
for holiness, recorded in Holy Writ, or whom we 
know in our own times, or have heard of in former, 
and by this means we should lessen the great 
opinion we have of our own worth ; and so like- 
wise should we consider the many instances of great 
calamities and sorrows, which would tend to quiet 
our. minds, and enable us to * possess our souls in 
patience,^ under the little burden of trials that lies 
upon us. And especially we shall find those in- 
stances to fall in together, that, as persons have 
been very eminent in holiness, they have also been 
eminent in suffering very sore strokes and sharp 
scourges from the hand of God. If we would 
think on their consuming blows and broken bones. 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



281 



their 'bones burnt as an hearth/ and their ' flesh 
withered as grass/ certainly we should entertair 
our thoughts sometimes with wonder at God's in- 
dulgence to us, that we are so little afflicted, when 
so many of the children of men, and so many 
of the children of God, suffer so many and 
so hard things; and this would very much add 
to the stock of our praises. We should not think 
that we are more innocent in not deserving these 
things that are inflicted on others, but rather that 
he who thus measures out to them and to us, knows 
our size, and sees how weak we are in comparison 
of them; and that therefore he is indulgent to us, 
not because we are better, but because we are 
weaker, and are not able to bear so much as he 
lays on the stronger shoulders. Even in the sharp- 
est of these rods there is mercy. It is a privilege 
to the sheep that is ready to wander, to be beaten 
into the right way. When thou art corrected, 
think that thereby thy sins are to be purged out, 
thy passions and lusts to be crucified by these pains; 
and certainly he that finds any cure of the evils of 
his spirit by the hardest sufferings of his flesh, gets 
a very gainful bargain. If thou account sin thy 
greatest unhappiness and mischief, thou wilt be 
glad to have it removed on any terms. There is at 
least in the time of affliction a cessation from some 
sins ; the raging lust of ambition and pride do cease, 
when a man is laid upon his back, and these very 
cessations are some advantages. But there is one 
great benefit of affliction, which follows in the text, 
that it gives him the true measure of himself. 

When with rebukes thou dost correct viaji, thou 
makest his beauty to consume away like a moth : surely 
every man is vanity. SelaL] ' Man at his best 



282 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



estate is altooether vanity but at his lowest estate 
it appears best unto him, how much vanity he is, 
and how much vanity he was at his best estate, 
seeins;- he was then capable of such a change, 
to fall so low from such a height. As that great 
man who was seeking new conquests, when he fell 
upon the sand and saw the print of his own body. 

Why/' says he, so small a parcel of earth will 
serve me, who am seeking after new kingdoms.'^ 
Thus it is, when a man is brought down : then he 
hath the right measure of himself, when he sees 
how vain a thing he is. 

Thus the Psalmist represents it here, both as an 
argument to move God to compassion, and to in- 
struct himself and other men. So Job, xiii. 25. 

* Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro with 
the wind ? and wilt thou pursue dry stubble ?' 

* For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that 
we are d list.' ^ And his beauty, which seemed to 
be his perfection, yet when the hand of God is on 
him, it is blasted as a moth-eaten garment: this 
should teach us humility, and to beware of sin, 
which provokes God to pour out his heavy judg- 
ments upon us. If any be proud of honour, let 
him remember Nebuchadnezzar and Herod ; or of 
riches, or of wit and endowments of mind, let him 
think how soon God can make all these to wither 
and melt away. Surely every inan is vanity, 

Ver. 12. Hear my prayer, Lord, and give ear 
to my cry, hold 7iot thy peace at my tears : for I am 
a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fa- 
thers were."] What is this life we cleave so fast to, 
and are so uneasy to hear of parting with ; what is it 



' Psalm ciii. 14. 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



283 



but a trance, and a succession of sorrows, a weary 
tossing and tottering upon the waves of vanity and 
misery ? No estate or course of life is exempted 
from the causes of this complaint; the poorer and 
meaner sort are troubled with wants, and the richer 
with the care of what they have, and sometimes 
with the loss of it; and the middle sort betwixt the 
two, they partake in common of the vexations of 
both, for their life is spent in care for keeping w hat 
they have, and in turmoil for purchasing more. 
Besides a world of miseries and evils that are inci- 
dent equally to all sorts of men, such as sickness 
and pain of body, which is both a sharp affliction 
and sits close to a man, and which he is least able, 
either by strengh of mind, or by any art or rule 
to bear; and this guest does as oft haunt palaces 
as poor cottages, as man}? groans of sick and dis- 
eased bodies within silken curtains as in the mean- 
est lodging. Neither does godliness exempt the 
best of men from the sufferings of this life. David, 
who was both a great man and a good man, did 
share deeply in these ; so that his conclusion still 
holds true, no instance can be found to infringe it, 
' Surely every man is altogether vanity.' 

It remains only to inquire, what manner of men 
they are who are furnished with the best helps, and 
with the most comfortable mitigations of their trou- 
ble, and with the strongest additions of support 
and strength to bear them up under it ? And it 
will certainly be found that godliness alone hath 
this advantage. And among the many consolations 
godly men have under their trouble, this is one, 
and the chief one, their recourse unto prayer. So 
here, and Psalm cxlii. 45, Isaiah, xxxviii. 2, ' Heze- 
kiah turned his face tovrards the wall ;* he turns 



284 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



his back on all worldly councils and vain helps, 
and betakes himself to prayer. And prayer brings 
ease and support, and seasonable deliverance to 
the .godly man ; but * their sorrows shall be multi- 
plied that hasten after other gods.'^ And this all 
ungodly men do when they are afflicted ; they run 
to other imaginary helps of their own, and they 
prove but the multipliers of sorrows, and add to 
their torment. They are miserable or troublesome 
comforters; like unskilful physicians, that add to 
the patient's pain, by nauseous, ill-chosen, and it 
it may be pernicious drugs. 

Now in this prayer of David we»find three things, 
which are the chief qualifications of all acceptable 
prayers; the first is humility. He humbly con- 
fesses his sins, and his own weakness and worth- 
lessness. We are not to put on a ^stoical flinty 
kind of spirit under our afflictions, that so we may 
seem to shun womanish repinings and complaints, 
lest we run into the other evil of 'despising the 
hand of God;' but we are to humble our proud 
hearts, and break our unruly passions. There is 
something of this in the nature of affliction itself: 
as in the daytime men are abroad, but the night 
draws them home ; so in the day of prosperity men 
run out after vanities and pleasures, and when the 
dark night of affliction comes, then men should 
come home, and wisely lay the matter to heart. It 
is meet we 'humble ourselves under the mighty 
hand of God.' It is meet to say unto him as Job, 

* I have been chastised,' or have borne chastisement, 

* and I will not offend any more that is a kind of 
language that makes the rod fall out of his hand. 



* Psalm xvi. 4. ^ Job. xxxiv. 31. 



ON PSALM XXXTX. 



285 



That prayer ascends hioi-hest that comes frorn the 
lowest depth of an humble heart. But God ' resists 
the proud he proclaims himself an enemy to pride 
and stiffness of spirit, but his grace seeks the hum- 
ble heart, as water does the low ground. 

If an holy heart be the ' temple of God,' and 
therefore an ' house of prayer,^ certainly when it is 
framed and builded for such, the foundation of that 
temple is laid in deep humility, otherwise no 
prayers that are offered up in it have the smell of 
pleasing incense to him. 

The second qualification of this prayer is, fer- 
vency and importunity, 'which, appears in the elegant 
gradation of the words, hear my prayer, my words; 
if not that, yet give ear to my cry, which is louder; 
and if that prevail not, yet hold not thy peace at my 
tears, which is the loudest of all : so David else- 
where calls it ' the voice of his weeping.^ Though 
this gift of tears doth often flow from the natural 
temper, yet where that temper becomes spiritual 
and religious, it proves a singular instrument of re- 
pentance and prayer. But yet there may be a 
very great height of piety and godly affections 
where tears are wanting ; yea, this defect may pro- 
ceed from the singular sublimity of religion in their 
souls, being acted more in the upper region of the 
intellectual mind, and so not communicating much 
with the lower affections, or these expressions of 
them. We are not to judge of our spiritual pro- 
ficiency by the gift of prayer," for the heart may 
be very spiritually affected, where there is no rea- 
diness or volubility of words ; the sure measure oi 
our growth is to be had, from our holiness, which 
stands in this, — to see how our hearts are crucified 
to the world, and how we are possessed . with the 



286 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



love 9f God, and with ardent long-ings after union 
with him, and dwelling in his presence hereafter, 
and in being- conformed to his will here. 

It is the greatest folly imaginable in some to 
shed tears for their sins, and within a little while to 
return to them again : they think there is some 
kind of absolution in this way of easy venting" them- 
selves by tears in prayer, and when a new tempta- 
tion returns, they easily yield to it. This is light- 
ness and foolishness, like the inconstancy of a 
woman, who entertains new lovers in her mourn- 
ing apparel, having expressed much sorrow and 
grief for her former husband. 

Now, fervency in prayer halh in it, 1st, Atten- 
tiveness of mind. If the mind be not present, it is 
impossible that much of the heart and affections 
can be there. How shall we think that God will 
hear these prayers which we do not hear ourselves ? 
And shall we think them worthy of his acceptance 
that are not worthy of our thoughts? Yet we should 
not leave off prayer because of the wanderings of 
our hearts in it, for that is the very design of the 
devil; but still we must continue in it, and amend 
this fault as much as we can, by remembering in 
the entry wiih whom we have to do, by freeing our 
minds as much as may be from the entanglements 
and multiplicity of business, and by labouring to 
have our thoughts often in heaven ; for where the 
heart is much, it will be ever and anon turning 
thitherward, without any clifhculty. 

2diy. Fervency of prayer hath in it an intense 
bent of the affections, to have our desires as ardent 
as can be for the pardon of sin, for. the mortifying 
our lusts and passions^ for the delivering us from 
the love of ourselves and this present ^^orld, and 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



287 



for such spiritual things, to pray often, and to fol- 
low it with importunity, that is, to pray fervently, 
never to rest till an answer come. 

The third qualification is faith. ^ He who comes 
to God must believe that he is, and that he is a re- 
warder of all that diligently seek him.'* And cer- 
tainly as he that comes to God must believe this, so 
he that believes this cannot but come to God ; and 
if he be not presently answered, he that believes 
makes no haste, he resolves patiently to wait for the 
Lord, and to go to no other. 

Surely there is much to be had in prayer; all 
good may be obtained, and all evil averted by it ; 
yea, it is a reward to itself. It is the greatest dig- 
nity of the creature to be admitted to converse 
with God ; and certainly the soul that is much in 
prayer, grows in purity, and is raised by prayer to 
the despising of all these things that the world 
admires and is in love with, and by a wonderful 
way is conformed to the likeness of God. 

For I am a stranger with thee, a7id a sojourner , as 
all my fathers ivere.^ In the law, God recommends 
strangers to the care and compassion of his people : 
now David returns the argument to him, to per- 
suade him to deal kindly with him ; for I am a 
stranger with thee, that is, before thee, in this 
world wherein thou hast appointed me to sojourn a 
few days, and I betake myself to thy protection in 
this strange country ; I seek shelter under the 
shadow of thy wings, therefore have compassion 
upon me." He that looks on himself as a stranger, 
and is sensible of the darkness both round about 



' Heb. xi. 6. 



288 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



him in tins wilderness, and also within him, he 
wiil often put up that request with David : ' I am 
a stranger on this earth ; hide not thy command- 
ments from me do not let me lose my way. And 
as we should use this argument to persuade God to 
look down upon us, so likewise to persuade our- 
selves to send up our hearts and desires to him. 
What is the joy of our life but the thoughts oi 
that other life, our home, before us ? And cer- 
tainly he that lives much in these thoughts, set 
him where you will here, he is not much pleased 
nor displeased ; but if his Father call him home, 
that word gives him his heart's desire. 



LECTURE VI. 

Verse 13. spare me, that I may recover strength 
before I go hence, and be no more. 

Why is it that we do not extremely hate that which 
we so desperately love, — sin ? For the deformity of 
itself is unspeakable; and besides, it is the cause 
of all our woes. Sin hath opened the sluices, and 
lets in all the deluges of sorrows, which make the 
life of poor man nothing else but vanity and 
misery ; so that the meanest orator in the world 
may be eloquent enough on that subject. What 

' Psalm cxix. 19. 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



289 



is our life, but a continual succession of many 
deaths ? Though we should say nothing of all the 
bitternesses and vexations that are hatched under 
the sweetest pleasures in the world, this one thing 
is enough, the multitudes of diseases and pains, 
the variety of distempers that those houses we are 
lodged in are exposed. Poor creatures are oft 
times tossed betwixt two ; the fear of death and 
the tediousness of life ; and under these fears they 
cannot lell which to choose. Holy men are not 
exempted from some apprehensions of God's dis- 
pleasure, because of their sins ; and that may make 
them cry out with David, ' O spare me, that I may- 
recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.' 
Or perhaps this may be a desire not so much simply 
for the prolonging of life, as for the intermitting of 
his pain : to have ease from the present smart, the ex 
treme torment of some sickness, may draw the most 
fixed and confident spirits to cry out very earnestly 
for a little breathing; or rather, if it be the desire of' 
a recovery, and the spinning out of the thread of 
his life a little longer, surely he intended to em- 
ploy it for God and his service : but long life was 
suitable to the promises of that time ; so Hezekiah, 
Isaiah, xxxviii. There is no doubt these holy men 
under the law knew somewhat of the state of im- 
mortality;^ they calling themselves ' strangers on 
earth,' argued, that they were no strangers to these 
thoughts ; but it cannot be denied, that that doc- 
trine was but darkly laid o^it in these times : it is 
Christ Jesus that hath 'brought life and immortality 
to light,' who did illuminate life and immortality, 
that before stood in the dark. 



^ Heb. xi. 



u 



290 



EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 



Surely, the desire of life is for the iTiost part sen- 
sual and base, when men desire that they may still 
enjoy their animal pleasures, and are loath to be 
parted from them. They are pleased to term it, a 
desire to live and repent; and yet few do it when 
they are spared ; like evil debtors, w ho desire for- 
bearance from one term to another, but with no de- 
sign at all to pay. But there is a natural desire of 
life, something of abhorrence of nature against the 
dissolution of these tabernacles. We are loath to go 
forth, like children who are afraid to walk in the 
dark, not knowing what may be there. In some, 
such a desire of life may be very reasonable: 
being surprised by sickness and apprehensions of 
death, and sin unpardoned, they may desire a little 
time before they enter into eternity ; for that 
change is not a thing to be hazarded upon a few 
days' or hours^ preparation. I will not say that 
death-bed repentance is altogether desperate, but 
certainly it is very dangerous, and to be suspected ; 
and therefore tlie desire of a little time longer in 
such a case may be very allowablp. 

I will not deny but it is possible even for a be- 
liever to be taken in such a posture, that it may be 
very uncomfortable to him to be carried off so, 
through the affrightments of death, and his dark- 
ness as to his after-state. On the other hand, it is 
an argument of a good measure of spirituality and 
height of the love of God, 'to desire to depart, and 
be dissolved' in the midst of health and the affluence 
of worldly comforts; but for men to desire and 
wish to be dead, when they are troubled and vexed 
with anything, is but a childish folly, flowing from 
a discontented mind ; which being over, they desire 



ON PSALM XXXIX. 



291 



nothing less than to die. It is true there may be a 
natural desire of death, which at sometimes hath 
shone in the spirits of some natural men ; and 
there is much reason for it, not only to be freed 
from the evils and troubles of this lite, but even 
from those things which many of this foolish world 
account their happiness, — sensual pleasures, to eat 
and drink, and to be hungry again, and still to 
round that same course ; which to souls that are 
raised above sensual things, are burdensome and 
grievous. 

But there is a spiritual desire of death, which is 
very becoming a Christian ; for Jesus Christ hath 
not only opened very clearly the doctrine of eternal 
life ; but he himself hath passed through death, 
and lien down in the grave : he hath perfumed 
that passage, and warmed that bed for us ; so that 
it is sweet and amiable for a Christian to pass 
through and follow him, and to be where he is. It 
is a strange thing that the souls of Christians have 
not a continual desire to go to that company which 
is above, (finding so much discord and disagreement 
among the best of men that are here,) to go to the 
spirits of 'just men made perfect,' where there is 
light and love, and nothing else ; to go to the com- 
pany of angels, an higher rank of blessed spirits ; 
but most of all, to go to God, and to Jesus, the Me- 
diator of the New Testament. And to say nothing 
positively of that glory, (for the truth is, we can 
say nothing of it,) the very evils that death delivers 
the true Christian from, may make him long for it ; 
for such an one may say, " I shall die, and go to 
a more excellent country, where I shall be happy 
for ever : that is, I shall die no more ; I shall sor- 



292 EXPOSITORY LECTURES, 

row no more ; I shall be sick no more ; and which 
is yet more considerable, I shall doubt no more, 
and shall be tempted no more ; and which is the 
chiefest of all, I shall sin no more." 



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Sermons. Separate 2 00 

McCLELLAND (Prof Alex.) on the Canon and Interpretation. 75 

McCOSH on the Divine Government, Physical and Moral 2 00 

McCRINDELL, The Convent. A Narrative. 18mo 50 

The School Girl in France. 16mo 50 

McFARLANE, The Mountains of the Bible. Illustrated 75 

McGHEE'S (Rev. R, J.) Lectures on the Ephesians. Svo 2 00 

McILYAINE'S Truth and Life. A Series of Discourses 2 00 

MEIKLE'S Solitude Sweetened. 12mo 60 

MENTEATH, Lays of the Kirk and Covenant. lUust. 16mo.. 75 

MICHAEL Kemp, The Happy Farmer's Lad. 18mo 40 

MILLER (Hugh), The Geology of the Bass Rock. Illustrated.. 75 

MISSIONARY of Kilmany 40 

MISSIONS, The Origin and History of. 25 steel plates. 4to.. . . 8 50 

MOFFAT'S Southern Africa. 12mo 75 

MONOD'S Lucilla; or, the Reading of the Bible. 18mo 40 

MOORE (Kev. T. Y.) Com. on Haggai, Zechariah aiid Malachi. 



8 



carters' publications. 



MOEE'S (Hannah) Private Devotion. ISmo 50 

Do. do. do. 82mo. 20 cents. Gilt... 30 

.MOEELL'S History of Modern Philosophy. 8vo B 00 

MOENING of Life. 18mo 40 

MORNING and Night Watches 60 

[ By the same Author : — 

' FOOTSTEPS of St. Paul. 12mo. Illustrated ^ 100 

FAMILY Prayers. 12mo T5 

WOOD-CUTTER of Lebanon, and Exiles of Lucerna .... 50 

THE Great Journey. Illustrated 50 

THE Words of Jesus 40 

THE Mind of Jesus 40 

MY School -Boy Days. 18mo. Illustrated. * . . • 80 

MY Youthful Companions. ISmo Illustrated - 80 

The above two in one volume 50 

NEW Cobwebs to Catch Little Flies 50 

NEWTON'S (Rev. John) Works. 2 vols, in 1. Portrait B 00 

NOEL^S Infant Piety. ISmo 25 

OBEELIN (John Frederick) Memoirs of 40 

OLD White Meeting-House. ISmo „ 4e 

OLD Humphrey's Observations — Addresses — Thoughts foj 
Thoughtful — Walks in London — Homely Hints — Country 
Strolls — Old Sea Captain — Grand parents — Isle of Wight— x 
Pithy Papers — Pleasant Tales — ^North American Indians. 

12 vols. ISmo. Each 40 

OPIE on Lying. New edition. ISmo. Illustrated 40 

OSBORNE (Mrs.) The World of Waters. Illustrated. ISmo. . . 50 

OWEN on Spiritual Mindedness. 12mo 60 

PALEY'S Evidences. Edited by Prof. Nairne 1 25 

Horsfr Paulinae. 8vo 

PASCAL (Jaqueline) ; or, Convent Life in Port Royal. 12mo. , 1 00 

Provincial Letters • - • i ^0 

PASTOR'S Daughter. By Louisa Payson Hopkins 40 

PATTEESON oh the Assembly's Shorter Catechism 50 

PEAESON on Infidelity. Fine edition. 8vo. $2. Cheap ed... 60 

PEEP of Day SO 

By the same Author : — 

LINE upon Line SO 

PEECEPT on Precept 80 

NEAE Home 50 

FAE Off 50 

SCEIPTUEE Facts 50 

PHILIP'S Devotional Guides. 2 vols 1 50 

. ^ Young Man's Closet Library 



carters' publications. 



PHTLIP'S Mary's, Martha's, Lydia's and Hannah's Love of the 

Spirit. Each 40 

PIKE'S True Happiness. 18mo 30 

■ Divine Origin of Christianity 30 

POLLOK'S Course of Time. Elegant edition. 16mo. Portrait 1 00 

. Da 18mo. Small copy. Close type 40 

Life, Letters and Remains. By the Rev. J. Scott, D.D.. . 1 00 

— Tales of the Scottish Covenanters. Illustrated 50 

Helen of the Glen. 18mo. Illustrated 25 

Persecuted Family " " 25 

Ralph Germnell " « 25 

POOL'S Annotations. 3 vols. Svo. Half calf, $12. Cloth 10 00 

PRAYERS of St. Paul. 16mo 75 

QUARLE'S Emblems. Illustrated 1 00 

RETROSPECT (The). By Aliquis. ISmo 40 

RICHMOND'S Domestic Portraiture. Hlustrated. 16mo 75 

■ Annals of the Poor. IBmo 40 

RIDGELT'S Body of Divinity. 2 vols. Royal Svo 4 00 

ROGER Miller; or, Heroism in Humble Life. ISmo 30 

ROGER'S Jacob's Well. ISmo 40 

Folded Lamb. ISmo 40 

ROMAINE on Faith. 12mo 60 

Letters. 12mo 60 

RUTHERFORD'S Letters. With Life by Bonar. 150 

RYLE'S Living or Dead. A Series of Home Truths 75 

Wheat or Chaff , 75 

Startling Questions 75 

Rich and Poor 75 

Priest, Puritan and Preacher. 75 

SAPHIR (Philip) Life of 30 

SCHMID'S Hundred Short Tales 50 

SCOTIA'S Bards. A Collection of the Scottish Poets 2 00 

SCOTT'S Daniel. A Model for Young Men 1 50 

(Thos.) Force of Truth. ISmo 25 

SELECT Works of James Yenn, Wilson, Philip and Jay 1 50 

Christian Authors. 2 vols. Svo 2 00 

SELF Explanatory Bible. Half calf, $4 50. Morocco 6 00 

SERLE'S Christian Remembrancer 50 

SHERWOOD'^ Clever Stories. Square 50 

Jack the Sailor Boy 25 

Duty is Safety 25 

Think before you Act 25 

SINNER'S Friend. ISmo 25 

SIGOURNEY'S (Mrs. L. H.) Water Drops. lUust. 16mo 75 

Letters to my Pupils. With portrait. 16mo 75 



10 carters' publications. 



SIGOURNEY'S Memoir of Mrs. L. H. Cook TS 

Olive Leaves 50 

Faded Hope 50 

Boy's Book. 18mo 40 

Girl's Book. 18mo 40 

Child's Book. Square 85 

SINCLAIR'S Modern Accomplishmeiits 75 

^- Modern Society 75 

Hill and Valley 75 

Holyday House 50 

Charlie Seymour 80 

SMITH'S (Rev. James) Green Pastures for the Lord's Flock. . . 1 00 

SMYTH'S Bereaved Parents Consoled. 12mo 75 

SONGS in the House of my Pilgrimage. 16mo 75 

SORROWING yet Rejoicing 80 

STEVENSON'S Christ on the Cross. 12mo 75 

Lord our Shepherd. l2mo 60 

Gratitude. 12mo 75 

STORIES on the Lord's Prayer 80 

STUCKLEY'S Gospel Glass 75 

SUMNER'S Exposition of Matthew and Mark. 12mo 75 

SYMINGTON on Atonement. 12mo 75 

TALES from English History. Illustrated 75 

TAYLOR'S (Jane) Hymns for Infant Minds. Square. Illust. . . 40 

Rhymes for the Nursey. Square. Illustrated 50 

Limed Twigs to Catch Young Birds. Square. Illust... 50 

• Life and Correspondence. 18mo. 40 

Display. A Tale. iSmo 80 

Original Poems and Poetical Remains. Illustrated 40 

(Isaac) Loyola ; or, Jesuitism in its Rudiments 1 00 

Natural History of Enthusiasm 75 

(Jeremy) Sermons. Complete in 1 vol. Bvo 1 50 

TENNENT'S Life 25 

THEOLOGICAL Sketch Book. 2 vols 3 00 

THREE Months under the Snow. ISmo 80 

THORNWELL'S Discourses on Truth 1 00 

TUCKER, The Rainbow in the North. ISmo 50 

■ Abbeokata or, Sunrise in the Tropics. ISmo 50 

The Southern Cross and the Southern Crown ■ 75 

TURNBULLS Genius of Scotland. Illustrated. 16mo 1 00 

Pulpit Orators of France and Switzerland 1 GO 

TYNG'S Lectures on the Law and Gospel. With portrait 1 50 

Christ is All. 8vo. With portrait 150 

Israel of God. Bvo. Enlarged edition 1 50 

Rich Kinsman 1 00 



carters' publications. 11 



TYNG'S Recollections of England. 12mo 1 00 

. Christian Titles T5 

A Lamb from the Flock. 18mo 25 

VARA ; or, the Child of Adoption 1 00 

YERY Little Tales, First and Second Series. 2 vols T5 

WARDLAW on Miracles 75 

WATERBURY'S Book of the Sabbath. 18mo 40 

WATSON'S Body of Divinity. 8vo 2 00 

"WATTS' Divine Songs. Illustrated. Square 40 

WEEK (The). Illustrated. 16mo 50 

WHATELY'S Kingdom of Christ and Errors of Romanism 75 

WHITECROSS' Anecdotes on Assembly's Catechism 30 

WHITE'S (Hugh) Meditations on Prayer. ISmo 40 

Believer. A Series of Discourses. ISmo 40 

Practical Reflections on the Second Advent. ISmo 40 

(Henry Kirke) Complete Works. Life by Southey 1 00 

WILBERFORCE'S (Wm.) Practical Yiew. Large type. 12mo. 1 00 

Life. By Mary A. Collier T5 

WILLISON'S Sacramental Meditations and Advices. ISmo.. . . 50 

WILSON'S Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life. 16mo. Illust. 75 

WINSLOW on Personal Declension and Revival 60 

Midnight Harmonies 60 

WOODROOFFE'S Shades of Character 1 50 

WYLIE'S Journey over the Region of Fulfilled Prophecy 30 

YOUNG'S Night Thoughts. 16mo. Large type, with portrait 1 00 

Do " »* Extra gilt, $1 50. Mor. $2. ISmo. 40 



BOOKS NOT STEREOTYPED. 

BICKERSTETH'S Works. 16 vols. 16mo 10 00 

On John and Jude 60 

BINNEY'S Make the Best of Both Worlds 60 

BRIDGES' Manual for the Young 50 

BUXTON (Sir T. F.), A Study for Young Men 50 

CHART of Sacred History. Folio 150 

DA COSTA'S Israel and the Gentiles. 12mo 1 25 

Four Witnesses 2 00 

EADIE on Colossians 

■ on Ephesians 3 00 

FLETCHER'S Addresses to the Young 60 

HALL'S Forum and the Yatican 1 00 

HEWITSON'S Remains. 2 vols 2 00 



12 carters' publications. 



HOWELL'S Remains 75 

LONDON Lectures to Young Men, 1853-4. l OO 

" " " 1854-5. 1 00 

MALAN'S Pictures from Switzerland 60 

OWEN'S Works. 16 vols. 8vo 20 00 

PEATT (Josiah) Memoirs of 1 60 

SMITH'S (Jno. Pye) Scripture Testimony to Messiah 6 00 

SELF-EXPLANATORY Bible, half calf, $4,50 mor 6 00 

SWETE'S Family Prayers 60 

THOLUCK'S Hours of Devotion 60 

VILLAGE Churchyard. 18mo 40 

Pastor. ISmo 40 

Observer. 18mo. 80 

WILSON (Prof.), The Forester, a Tale 75 

WORDS to Win Souls. 12mo 75 



THE FIEESIDE SEPJES. 
A Series of beautiful volumes of the Narrative kind, uniform tn bind- 
ing, and prettily Illustrated. 18mo. Price 50 cents each. 
Thefollowvng a/re now ready : 
MABEL GRANT. A Highland Story. 
THE WOODCUTTER OF LEBANON. 
LOUIS AND FRANK. 
CLARA STANLEY. A Story for Girls. 
THE CLAEEMONT TALES. 
THE CONVENT. By Miss M'Crindell. 
FAR OFF. By the author of the " Peep of Day." 
NEAR HOME. By the same author. 
HAPPY HOME. By Dr. Hamilton. 
JAMIE GORDON ; or, the Orphan. 
THE CHILDREN OF THE MANSE. By Mrs. Dunc«n. 
TALES OF THE SCOTTISH PEASANTRY. 
SCHOOL DAYS AND COMPANIONS. 
THE INDIAN TRIBES OF GUIANA. 
HOLIDAY HOUSE. By Miss Sinclair. 
OLIVE LEAVES. By Mrs. Sigourney. 
BROTHER AND SISTER. 
POLLOK'S TALES OF THE COVENANTERS. 
THE RAINBOW IN THE NORTH. 
THE INFANT'S PROGRESS. By Mrs. Sherwood. 
THE WORLD OF WATERS. 
BLOSSOMS OF CHILDHOOD. 
MAYDUNDAS. A Tale. 
ABBEOKUTA; or. Sunrise in the Tropics. 
THE FAMILY AT HEATHERDALE. 



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